


Don't Take Your Life Away From Me

by I_Dun_Care



Category: Fall Out Boy, Halsey (Musician), Melanie Martinez (Musician), My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cursing in later chapters, F/F, F/M, High School, Idk if I'm doing this right, M/M, Suicide, friends - Freeform, just go with it, they are teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 12:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11402874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Dun_Care/pseuds/I_Dun_Care
Summary: Tyler meets a boy with fire colored hair and his world changes. Then the boy brings a girl with half of her hair dyed pink into his world and Tyler realizes he has friends, so the voice in his head can't get to him, right?





	1. Poetry

"Your project for the next two weeks will be to write a book of poetry. You need ten poems and seven of them must be meet these requirements" Mr. Gawl announced waiving the instructions. "It will be a group project-"

"Do we get to choose our partners?" Pete interrupted. 

Tyler rolls his eyes. Whenever someone asks if they get to chose partners, they never get to chose. But Tyler doesn't care. Whenever they chose partners he's always stuck working alone. His classmates never talk to him. He doesn't have friends. 

"No. I will pick randomly from the jar." Mr Gawl says while reaching for the old mason jar filled with pop sickle sticks that have the students names written on them.  
"Our first pair will be-" he picks two sticks "Melanie and Johnny" 

Tyler doesn't like group work. His partner always ends up talking to his friends and Tyler does all the work. But he doesn't tell Mr. Gawl. He would get made fun of. He doesn't realize he's zoned out until Mr. Gawl says his name. 

"Tyler and-" he reaches for another name. Tyler hopes it's not Pete. Pete always makes fun of him for not having friends. "Josh" Mr. Gawl says clearly. "Now, Pete and-" 

Tyler doesn't care who Pete gets because he knows it can't be him. He looks around to classroom. He doesn't know a Josh. He starts breathing heavy. What if Josh makes fun of him too? Tyler is almost crying when Mr. Gawl interrupts.

"Now, you have all class to work, go off now, children" 

Tyler sits there and waits for someone to come to him. Nobody comes right away and Tyler hopes that whoever Josh is that he's sick and stayed home today so he can just read. But then Tyler looks to his right and sees a boy with bright red hair that reminds him of fire coming towards him. The boy smiles at him and Tyler forces himself to smile back. The boy stands in front of Tyler's desk and holds out his hand. 

"Hi. I don't think we've met before, but my name's Josh." Josh is smiling at Tyler waiting for him to shake his hand. 

"Uhh h-hi I'm Tyler." Tyler says while grabbing his hand. Josh shakes his hand and lets go. Tyler's hand retreats quickly. He doesn't like talking, much less touching people he doesn't know. 

"So the uh first poem has to be a haiku. I'm not very good at haikus the syllables confuse me." Josh says while looking embarrassed. Tyler doesn't think it's embarrassing to have the syllables confuse him. 

"The syllables don't confuse me." 

"Ok, good. So uh what should it be about?" 

"I don't know. Trees?"

"Uh trees are cool." Josh looks uncomfortable. Probably because Tyler is uncomfortable. But Josh keeps talking anyway "What about something like 'Silent in the trees, where I happen to be, why won't you speak'? Was that ok?" Josh looks at Tyler for the answer.

"Umm well..." Tyler knows the syllables in the second and third lines were off by one, but he doesn't want to hurt Josh's feelings. But he doesn't know why he cares about Josh's feelings. He just met him. Maybe it's because Josh is being nice to him. "There needs to be one more syllable in the second and third lines but I really like the words." That's probably the most Tyler has ever said to anyone outside of his family. 

"Oh. Well umm maybe it could be 'Silent in the trees, where we happen'- no that won't work maybe uh where you and me happen- uh no." Josh looks frustrated with himself when the bell rings. 

"Children remember this is due in two weeks so have it done!" Mr. Gawl yells as people pack up and leave the class. 

"Do you want to come to my house after school? We can work in the project some more." Josh asks. Tyler has never had someone want him to come to their house before. 

"Uh yeah, sure." Tyler responds. 

"K, bye Tyler I'll find you after school." Josh says while walking out the door.  
Tyler is walking out too when he thinks of something. Is Josh his friend? Friends invite other friends to their houses, right? He's not sure, he's never had a friend before. Tyler finds himself rushing to get to his last period of the day, but he's not sure why. Maybe because he wants to see Josh again. Is Josh doing this? Does Josh see Tyler as a friend? The questions run through Tyler's mind as he goes through the doors and finds himself in the science classroom. He's the first one, but he's usually the last. He gets distracted a lot. A blond haired girl comes in. Tyler doesn't remember her name, but he's glad she doesn't sit by him. He likes sitting alone. More students pile in the class and when the bell rings Tyler finds himself alone at his two person desk and he's happy. He likes being alone. But then the door opens again and a certain fire haired boy runs in. 

"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Hups." He says. He doesn't want detention after school. Tyler hopes he doesn't get detention. Then he can't go home with him and work on the poetry. 

"It's fine this time, Josh, you were only a few moments late, but next time you'll have detention. Go find your seat." Mrs. Hups responds. She's a nice teacher. The math teacher surely would have given him detention.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hups." Josh says while finding his seat. The only one left open is the one next to Tyler. But Tyler is ok with Josh sitting next to him. But Tyler doesn't understand how he didn't notice Josh before. His hair is bright red for goodness sakes.  
Josh smiles at Tyler as he sits down. Tyler smiles back. Mrs. Hups starts the lesson, which is about how cancer forms. She tells them to discuss whatever she just said in partners, but Tyler was zoning out, he was thinking about how he never noticed Josh. 

"Um I think it's cool how one little mutation in the um cell can cause something so big. Well I mean it's not cool, it's cancer, I mean..." Josh trails off. 

"I umm I wasn't paying attention." Tyler states truthfully, ready for Josh to judge him for zoning out. But Josh didn't judge. 

"Oh that fine, the lessons boring anyway. If you really need it it's probably in the book" Josh says while folding the corners of the pages of the science book down and up and down again and again. 

"Yeah um thanks" Tyler says, he already knew anything he missed would be in the book, but Josh was trying to be nice. 

"Ok, now look at this diagram-" says Mrs. Hups. 

Tyler zones out again and snaps out of it when the bell rings. 

"Ok, remember to read chapter seven!" Mrs. Hups says as people hurry out the door.

" So, I'll find you, ok?" Josh says while closing his books and putting his pencil away.

"Yeah ok." Tyler says while stacking his chair. 

"Don't leave without me!" Josh says while disappearing out the door. 

Tyler smiles. He feels kind of happy. Had he finally made a friend?


	2. Swings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Josh go to the park.

Tyler finished packing his things into his backpack and sits down next to his locker waiting for Josh. His phone buzzes in his pocket.

"Tyler where are you? I'm outside" It's his mother.

"I'm going to work on a project with someone I'll be home by 7:00." Tyler replies. 

"Ok be safe Tyler." His mom doesn't ask who he's working on the project with. Maybe she thinks that Tyler finally found a friend. He hoped he had a friend. He wouldn't want to be a friendless freak forever. 

"Tyler! Hey!" Josh is walking to Tyler. Tyler takes a deep breath and says hi back. 

"Come on." Josh says while Tyler stands up and starts walking towards the boy. They head out the front doors and into the parking lot. Tyler wonders if Josh drives himself to school. That would be cool. Josh stops at a car and opens the door for Tyler. Tyler gets in and waits for Josh to come around and get in himself. They are both silent and Tyler is uncomfortable. Until Josh says something.

"So Tyler how long can you stay?" 

"I told my mom I would be back before 7:00." Tyler says back. 

"Oh ok." Josh says as he pulls up to a cool blue house. "We're here."   
Tyler gets out of the car and waits there until Josh is at the front door waving at him to come forward. Tyler walks up to Josh as he opens the door.   
Inside there's a couch with a side table and past that is a table. 

"This is the living room. That's where we eat." Josh says while leading Tyler into a hallway to the right of the table and up some stairs. He opens a door and walks in. Tyler follows. "This is my room."

"It's nice." Tyler likes Josh's room. It's cozy. Josh smiles and gets his things out of his backpack. 

"So I don't think a haiku about trees would work. What about rain? It could be like 'Rain falls silently, I usually like it, but it's pouring now.' Would that work?" Josh asks and Tyler thinks for a moment before replying "Yeah I think that works." Josh smiles and writes it down.   
The boys write two more poems and get bored.

"This is boring you wanna do something else? It's only 4:30." Josh asked and Tyler nodded. "Ok come on." Josh says while standing up off the floor and he opens the door. He leads Tyler downstairs and says he can wait at the door. Josh goes to tell his mom that they're leaving. He meets Tyler at the door and leads him outside. Josh starts walking down the driveway and he doesn't stop at his car. Tyler thinks they must be walking somewhere. The whole walk (which is only about 3 minutes) the boys are silent. Tyler is following Josh up a path of cement in the middle of a grassy hill. Tyler has no idea where they're going. When they're at the top of the hill Tyler looks down and sees a park with no one in it. It has some slides and a tire swing with a couple regular swings. It's also got a see-saw and a huge rock that looks like it's made for climbing. Next to it there's a table and a bench under a hut. The boys start down the hill and only when they're at the bottom Josh speaks. 

"What do you want to do first?" Josh says looking at the other boy. 

"I don't know." Tyler replies. He doesn't like to make decisions. He would rather Josh make the decisions. 

"Wanna go in the tire swing?" Josh says with a smile. Tyler likes that Josh doesn't force him to make decisions. 

"Sure." Tyler says with a slight smile.   
Josh starts his way to the swing and Tyler follows. Tyler has never been on a tire swing. He doesn't like getting out of the house. He would rather sit in his room.   
The boys arrive at the tire swing and get on. Josh starts swinging and when it starts getting higher he starts making the swing turn. Tyler likes it. It's going pretty slow at first. 

"You wanna speed it up?" Josh says with a large grin in his face. Tyler doesn't know how fast Josh will go but he decides to go for it. He nods.  
Josh is swinging faster and Tyler thinks it's fine. But then Josh starts going even faster and Tyler is almost falling off. He tightens his grip on the chains connecting the tire to the poles holding the swing up. He's slipping off and Josh isn't noticing. Josh is only focused on going faster. Tyler is close to flying off when he looks at Josh. He seems to be having the same problem. Josh is trying to slow down and trying to stay on at the same time. It's funny to watch. Tyler is smiling. But then Josh lets out a small scream and flies backwards into the grass. Without Josh's weight to keep the swing balanced the swing tips and Tyler is really close to the ground. Tyler lets out a small scream and tries to slow down. But then Josh's hand is grabbing the chain and stopping the swing. The boys look at each other and burst into laughter. 

"That's was... special." Josh says while he and Tyler sit in the grass.   
Both boys are trying to recover from the dizziness. 

"I liked it." Tyler says with a smile. Even though he almost fell off the swing it was fun. 

"What do you wanna do now? Can we climb the rock?" Josh says while pointing to the huge rock to the right of them. 

"Yeah, sure." Tyler says while he and Josh get up. They arrive at the rock and Josh climbs up first. Then Josh tells Tyler where to put his feet as he climbs up. Once they're both up they find a pile of medium sized rocks. They are taking turns trying to throw them into the tire swing and in between poles when Josh's phone buzzes. He takes it out and reads the message. It's his mom asking if they're ok. He replies 'yes'. 

"We've been here for an hour already, Tyler." Josh says while putting his phone away. It didn't seem like an hour to Tyler. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay at the park with his new friend. Or at least he hopes Josh sees him as a friend. 

"Do you want to swing?" Tyler asks while looking at the pair of swings to their left. 

"Yeah, ok." Josh says while climbing down. Tyler gets down and the boys both get on the swings. They're telling jokes and riddles. Tyler is happy. Josh looks happy, too. Josh checks the time on his phone and seems sad.

"It's a little after 6:00, Tyler. I think we should go back to my house and I can take you home." Tyler frowns, he likes it with Josh. 

"Yeah, I guess we should leave." Tyler says while slowing down his swing and getting off. He follows Josh back to his house. When they get there the boys go in and get Tyler's things from Josh's room. 

"I'm taking Tyler home." Josh says to his parents while walking out the door. They say ok and the boys head to the car. Tyler is telling Josh where to go and they arrive at Tyler's house. 

"I had fun today. Maybe you can come over again and we don't have to work on the project." Josh says while pulling into the driveway. 

"That would be great." Tyler said while unbuckling his seatbelt and collecting his things. The boys say bye and Tyler gets out of the car and starts walking towards the door when he remembers something. He turns around and runs toward the Josh's car. Josh stops and rolls down the window. 

"Did you forget something?" Josh asks looking surprised that Tyler ran back. 

"Can I umm have your phone number?" Tyler asks. He didn't want to ask tomorrow at school where there were so many people. 

"Oh sure." Josh says. Tyler gives Josh his phone and Josh gives Tyler his phone. The boys put in their phone number and give the phones back. 

"Ok, bye." Tyler says with a smile. 

"Bye Tyler." Josh says smiling. Josh rolls up the window as Tyler walks into his house. 

"Hey Tyler get stuff done?" His mom asks when he walks in.

"Yeah." Tyler says while walking upstairs to his room. He spends most of his time there.   
Tyler is glad the voice in his head didn't come back while he was with Josh. Tyler calls the voice Blurry. He calls it that because when Blurry starts talking everything gets blurry and weird. Blurry usually goes away when Tyler is happy. But Tyler doesn't like to think about Blurry. That makes him come back.

"Tyler honey it's time for dinner if you want to come down." His mom pokes her head in his room. Tyler doesn't usually eat dinner with his family. He zones out too much and freaks out at the little things. But he feels fine today. Maybe he should eat with them. He doesn't really talk to his family. Maybe he should more. 

"Tyler? Honey your zoning out again. Would you like to eat dinner up here or with us?" His mom snaps him out of it. 

"Umm can I try eating w-with you guys?" Tyler mumbles out. 

"Of course honey. Your food will be on the table." His mom is smiling big. She thinks Tyler is getting better. Tyler hopes he's getting better. He hates when Blurry comes around.  
Tyler heads downstairs and sits at the table. He can tell which plate is his because his pills are sitting next to it. His siblings are looking at him with a weird expression on their faces. They probably aren't used to him eating with them. Everybody sits down and starts eating. Tyler's family is talking about their days when someone says his name.

"What?" Tyler was zoning out and doesn't know who talked to him or what they said. 

"How was your day?" His mother asks. 

Tyler isn't sure if he should tell them he made a friend because he's not sure if Josh thinks of him as a friend. He's sure he does though. So he goes for it.   
"I made a friend today." 

His mother and father smile.   
"Who is your new friend?" Tyler's dad asks.

"His name is Josh." Tyler says while taking a bite of his spaghetti and meatballs.

"Is he the boy who's house you went to today?" His mom seems interested in Josh, but Tyler doesn't want to keep talking about his day. He wanted his brothers or his sister to talk about their day.

"Yeah." Tyler said while playing with his pills.

"How wonderful, Tyler. I'm proud of you for talking to someone new." 'Technically I was forced to talk to him to do our project but I'm glad Mr. Gawl picked Josh's name right after mine.' Tyler wanted to say. But instead he just kept poking at his meatballs. "So, would anyone else like to share about there day?" His mom continues.  
Tyler zones out. He knows his siblings probably won't talk to him because they barely talk to him outside of the dinner table anyway. His mom and dad already talked to him so they shouldn't bother him again.   
He snaps out of it when his brother drops his fork. He watches his brother pick it up and wash it off. When Tyler is done with his food he takes his pills. Then he just sits at the table and watches whoever is talking. He doesn't know if he should ask to be excused or if he should just leave or what to do. His siblings all finish their food and wash off their plates and silverware then put it in the dishwasher. So Tyler does the same. Then he goes up to his room.  
Tyler is thinking about the fun time he had with Josh when something happens.

'you think Josh is your friend??'

Oh no. Tyler knows it's Blurry. 

'he doesn't like you. he's not your friend.' 

Tyler tries not to think about it. If he ignores Blurry then he'll go away. 

'he's going to make you believe your friends then betray you'

Go away. Go away. Go away. Tyler hates Blurry saying these things. 

'he thinks your a loser and he just wants to make fun of you'

"Go away! Go away I don't want you here!" Tyler's finding himself actually talking trying to make Blurry go away.

'you'll never have any friends'

"Stop! Go away! Leave! No! No! No!" 

!your a friendless loser and everyone hates you'

"No no no no no no no!" Tyler is pulling out his hair and clawing at his hands.   
Tyler's phone buzzes. It's a text from Josh.   
'Hi Tyler.' It says 

'everyone hates you and Josh will never be your friend' 

"STOP IT!" Tyler is screaming now. But his siblings are used to him screaming weird things like that.

'fine then don't listen to me and have Josh betray you and everyone make fun of you for being who you are you lonely friendless piece of trash'

"LEAVE! NOW! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Tyler is screaming and crying and his hands are bleeding now from all the clawing.   
A few minutes later Blurry is gone and Tyler feels a little better. But his heart is beating fast and his hands are bleeding and his head is throbbing. He shakily turns on his phone. He sees a text from Josh. He opens it and responds with  
'Hey'  
He doesn't know what else to say because Tyler fears Blurry was telling the truth about Josh. His phone buzzes again.  
'Do you think you can come home with me tomorrow too?'   
'Yeah sure.'  
Tyler is exited for tomorrow. He wants to see Josh. Tyler forces himself to sleep because he wants to be happy and get rid of Blurry at least for the day. Tyler falls asleep fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm sorry for any mistakes. I can't tell if the chapters are a good length because while writing them they seem super long but when I proof read them they seem really short. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	3. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the person you need the most doesn't come until it's a little too late. 
> 
>  
> 
> *also there's a Blurry warning (meaning Blurry comes back in this chapter.)

Tyler wakes up to his mom knocking on his door. 

"Tyler, honey get up! It's time for school!"

"I'm up mom." Tyler says to get her to stop pounding on the door. All the noise hurts.   
Tyler goes to his closet and picks out some black jeans and a black shirt. He usually wears a lot of black. His family is used to it. But people at school call him 'emo'. He's used to it though. He heads downstairs and eats a granola bar. He grabs his backpack and heads out the door. He walks to school.

"Bye Tyler! Will I be picking you up?" His mom calls.

"No I'm going to Josh's house." Tyler calls back as he walks out the door. He likes the cool air. It's different from his room. His room is the warmest in the house, but he doesn't like being hot, so the fan is always on. But his room can never air out because the door is always closed. Tyler is heading to school when he hears a car horn behind him. He stops and looks back. He's not sure who would honk at him. He smiles when he sees the familiar fire hair and face of Josh.   
He gets into Josh's car and buckles his seat belt.

"Hey, Tyler. I didn't know you walked to school." Josh says as he starts up the car again. 

"Yeah, my siblings go to a different school and my mom takes them, so I have to walk because my dad goes to work early." Tyler responds while looking out the window.   
Tyler zones out until Josh tells him that they're at school.   
The first few periods of the day are like torture. Tyler zones out like he always does and when the teacher calls on him he has no idea what to say, and the teacher calls him out on it and Tyler ends up wanting to cry. But then lunch comes along and Tyler walks to the lunch room, sitting down at his usual table, alone, like usual. He waits for Pete to either throw food at him or make fun of him. Pete is walking up to him and Tyler must mentally prepare himself or Blurry will come back and Tyler doesn't like Blurry coming at school because his classmates think he's crazy screaming at nothing to go away and clawing at himself. 

"Whatcha doin loser" Pete says as Tyler rolls his eyes. Pete has said that so many times it's becoming a routine.  
"Your sitting here all alone again. Your such a loser. You don't even wear any color other than black. No wonder everyone hates you." Tyler doesn't even get why Pete takes time out of his day to talk to this 'loser'. 

'he's right'

Tyler's eyes widen and his heart beats faster. It cant be Blurry. Not right now.

"What's wrong? Are you just now realizing everything that's wrong with you?" Pete says while laughing and giving high fives to his little group. 

'there are so many things wrong with you. where do I even begin?' 

Stop. Stop. Not here. Not now. Go away. Tyler is trying to tell Blurry to leave but Pete is making every thing worse. 

"For one, you have no friends, two your ugly as heck, and three, your not even a little smart. There's so many more things wrong with you but listing them out would take all day, ha, even longer." Pete says while making faces and laughing. It's too much for Tyler. He's going to start crying if they don't stop.

'pete just said three major reasons why your a loser. but seriously, why would think josh would ever be your friend? where is he now, huh?'

"Go away." Tyler says out loud. He knows Pete will say something. 

"Excuse me?" Pete is staring wide eyed at Tyler, who's eyes are closed and he's covering his ears and he's rocking back and forth. 

'your making yourself look like a freak, even worse than usual.'

"Leave me alone! Why do you have to be here? Go away go away go away go away!" Tyler is mumbling while everyone starts staring at him.

"God, why are you freaking out, you gross freak." Pete is looking weirded out now, probably because Tyler looks like he could be a scene from a horror movie. 

'EveRYoNe iS stArINg. yOUR maKiNG EVEryoNe hAtE yOU EveN MOrE. aND WheRE's YOuR prEciOUs LITtle frIEnD? whEREs JOSh? Oh riGHt, hE dOesN'T CArE abOuT YoU. HE ThInkS YoUR a FREAK! '

"NO! NO STOP! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE! STOP!" Tyler is screaming and crying now and everyone is staring. He's scratching up his hands and neck and his eyes are squeezed closed tightly. 

"Fine then, no need to freak out. I'm leaving." Pete says while looking freaked out and whispering things to his friends. 

'JOSH HATES YOU AND HES NEVER COMING BACK! HE HATES YOU AND HE WISHES YOU WOULD DIE!' 

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!" Tyler is screaming and people are starting to get scared. Tyler is crying and his hands are a bloody mess. But then he hears Josh's voice screaming his name. Tyler opens his eyes for a second and sees Josh running to him. Then Josh is next to him.

 

"Hey, Tyler, stop ok? Your ok. I'm right here. Your ok." Josh is trying to get Tyler to calm down and it works.   
After a few minutes Tyler is calm and most people have stopped staring. The teachers probably noticed but they don't usually care. They think if they leave Tyler to stop by himself that it help him. But it doesn't really. Tyler is happy that Josh came. That means he cares, right?

"Are you ok Tyler?" Josh says in a comforting way. Tyler feels better now so he nods.  
"Do you want to go wash off your hands?" Josh asks. He's trying to make eye contact with Tyler, but he's looking at the table. Tyler nods and Josh leads him to the bathroom. When they get there Tyler starts cleaning off his hands and Josh waits by the door. When he's done they go back to the lunch room and sit at Tyler's table. They eat silently. Tyler only eats a half if an apple and Josh eats a sandwich. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. I was talking to the math teacher." Josh says. He looks ashamed. Tyler thinks he feels bad for not helping him sooner. 

"It's o-ok." Tyler is used to no one helping him. But he feels bad because Josh feels bad. 

"D-does that happen a lot?" Josh asks in a small voice. Tyler nods. Josh makes a face and says "Oh."   
The boys eat in silence. The bell rings and the boys start getting ready for their next class. Right before the boys leave the lunchroom Josh says something. 

"Are you still coming with me after school?" Josh says smiling.

"Yeah." Tyler replies and almost smiles. It's hard for Tyler to be happy after Blurry comes. But being with Josh makes him happy. 

After school Tyler is waiting next to his locker when Pete walks up to him. 

"What's wrong with you? Your even more of a freak now." Pete says while walking away. Tyler is glad he doesn't stay longer. That would be like an invitation for Blurry to come back. 

"Tyler! Come on!" Josh is yelling from down the hall. Tyler gets up and walks to his friend.   
Their night was like the one before. They had walked to the park and eaten pizza on the bench there. Tyler and Josh were happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I'm sorry for mistakes. I wasn't really sure how to write this chapter, but thanks for reading. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	4. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That was a mistake. 
> 
>  
> 
> **Blurry warning and a trigger warning ( I think, Im not sure how to use those but I'm tryingggggggg)

In the next few months the boys had become best friends. They had spent almost every night at one of their houses. Blurry had come back once or twice a month, but he usually went away pretty easily.  
Now it's July. The boys have been invited to a 4th of July party. The boys were on their way to Johnny's house for the party. The boys walk in and they are immediately surrounded by people who they don't know. 

"Umm Josh?" Tyler seems nervous.

"Yeah?" Josh seems nervous too.

"Do you know anyone here?" 

"No."  
They boys are walking through the house looking for somewhere not as crowded with people when they see a girl crying in the corner. Her hair is black on one side and pink in the other. Tyler knows they should probably talk to her to see if she's ok. 

"Hey. Are you ok?" Josh says sitting next to the girl.  
The girl looks up at him and nods with tears in her eyes. She doesn't look very ok.  
"You can talk to me about it if you feel like it." Josh said comfortingly.  
Tyler, who had been standing in the doorway sits on the other side of the girl.  
"Well I just- I just..." the girl takes a deep breath. "You know that boy, Johnny? Well we were dating, well at least I thought so, and he was kissing that basic little girl." The girl says crying into her hands.  
"It's ok, don't cry." Josh says  
"Your right. He doesn't deserve me." The girl says standing up and brushing herself off. The boys stand up too. Tyler is silent. He doesn't know what to say. He doesn't want to mess it up.  
"I'm Melanie." The girl says. Tyler had heard people talking about a Melanie. They called her Crybaby.  
"I'm Josh." Josh smiles and so did Melanie. 

Tyler feels like a third wheel. He doesn't like the feeling. He has never really felt like that. It was always just him and Josh. He doesn't even think Melanie knows he's there. He wants to leave.  
"This is my best friend Tyler." Josh says gesturing towards the boy.  
Melanie holds her hand towards Tyler. It was like the time him and Josh met. He grabs her hand and shakes it.  
"Hi." Tyler is mumbling. He doesn't like new people. But maybe Melanie would turn into a friend. Melanie smiles a big smile and Tyler notices she had a gap between her two front teeth. Tyler likes that.  
The trio walks out of the room and into the living room, where people are looking at all the fireworks piled on the table. The sun had just gone down and they were ready to start lighting them.  
The group sits on the stairs. A young boy with dark hair and short legs walks up and asks if they want to light any fireworks. Josh nods and says I guess so. But then the boy made the mistake of giving Tyler the lighter. He puts it in his pocket and the trio starts talking about random things. Tyler doesn't talk much though. Just one liners every once in a while.  
"Guys we're starting fireworks!" Someone from outside shouts. The group goes outside. Other people start lighting fireworks and the group watches and jokes and laughs. Tyler decides he likes Melanie. She is nice and funny. Tyler gets more comfortable and talks more. But then he stops smiling. 

'another fake friend, tyler?' 

Oh no. Not here. Not now. Tyler's heartbeat quickens and his eyes widen. Tyler lets Blurry get to him right away. Blurry is getting stronger. 

'yOu knOW jOsh Is goInG tO leAvE YoU, rIgHT? He LikES meLaNIe mORe ThaN yOU aLREAdy.'

Go away. Leave me alone. Tyler did not want to start screaming here.

'gO inSIdE. tHEY caNt sEe YOu iN tHErE. '

Why would Blurry tell him this? Tyler knew Blurry was forming a plan in his sick twisted mind but he did what he said.  
Tyler walks inside and Josh thinks he is going to the bathroom. Once inside Tyler goes to the room where they had found Melanie. He sits down in the corner where the girl had been crying and did the same. 

'YOUrE LIStENINg, gOd, TYLER. YoUr WEaK. WhY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? EVERYONE THINKS YOUR A FREAK. THE ONLY REASON YOU WERE INVITED TO THIS PARTY IS BECAUSE THEY FEEL BAD FOR YOU. AND YOUR 'BEST FRIEND' LEFT YOU FOR SOMEONE HE MET AN HOUR AGO. YOU HATE YOURSELF AND YOU KNOW IT! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. '

"I do." Tyler says. Then he hears Blurry laugh.  
Tyler gets something out of his pocket. It's black and little. It was given to him by a dark haired boy with short legs. It is a lighter. He turns it on. The flame dances and the room lights up. It started burning his thumb. But Tyler keeps it on. He puts his fingers through the flame. It burns but he doesn't care.  
"Tyler?" Josh's voice calls for him. But Tyler doesn't stop. He presses the lighter to a spot on his wrist. It hurts but he doesn't move the lighter. The door swings open and Josh and Melanie are standing there.  
"Tyler!" Josh runs to him and snatches the lighter out of his hands. Melanie is frozen in the doorway. She looks like she is going to cry.  
"Tyler?" She whispers.  
Tyler looks up at her with eyes full of tears. He looks at Josh who's face is also wet with tears. Josh squeezes Tyler into a hug and Tyler buries his face in Josh's shirt.  
"Do you wanna go to my house?" Josh says without letting go. Tyler nods.  
"Sorry Melanie, I gotta go." Josh says while helping Tyler up.  
"It's fine. Go." Melanie says while looking at Tyler.  
"Thanks." Josh is leading Tyler out of the room. "I'll text you though, ok?" Josh stops to look at the girl with the pink hair.  
"Ok." She says. "Just make sure Tyler's ok before."  
"I will. Bye."  
"Bye guys."  
Melanie seems concerned. And Josh had left her to take care of Tyler. Maybe Blurry was lying. 

'im not lying, punk.' 

No, no not again. Tyler braced himself for the criticism that Blurry would surely give him. But none came. Blurry stopped at that. That almost never happened.  
The boys get into Josh's car and he drives home. Tyler falls asleep and wakes up to Josh telling him they were here. The boys go upstairs to Josh's room. They sit on the bed and Josh looks at Tyler.

"Tyler, can I see your wrist? I need to make sure it's ok." Tyler nods and holds his arm out. Tyler winces while Josh swipes his thumb onto the burn.  
"Come on. I need to wash your wrist, ok?" Josh says while pulling Tyler to the bathroom. He turns on the sink and washes his wrist. He pulls a first aid kit from under the sink.  
"I'm going to put some cream on it, ok? It'll help it feel better." Josh says while getting out a little tube out of the bin. He puts some of the cream on Tyler's wrist and they go back to Josh's room. Then Josh puts on a movie. They sit in silence while they watch it. Tyler breaks the silence. 

"I'm sorry." Tyler is tearing up. 

"Don't be you did nothing wrong" Josh says while looking at Tyler. Tyler isn't looking him in the eye, though. 

"I made you cry." Tyler is crying now, with his knees pulled up to his chest. 

"Tyler you didn't- I wasn't- you- you just..." Josh is almost crying now too. The boys looked at each other. Josh reaches out and hugs Tyler. Then they go back to watching the movie. The boys lay down when they start getting tired. 

"Josh?" Tyler wants to tell Josh about Blurry, but he's scared Josh will think he's a freak and stop being friends with him. 

"Yeah Ty?" Josh smiles at him, probably trying to make him feel better. It works just a little bit, Tyler doesn't want to make the boy with the candy hair sad. 

"Ummm..." Tyler is scared. Josh is his best friend. But maybe Josh just won't accept it. 

"You can tell me whatever you want, Tyler. I won't, like, judge you or anything." Josh says " But if your not comfortable telling me something it's ok." Josh looks Tyler in the eyes as he says this. Tyler nods and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes and starts talking. He tells Josh everything about Blurry. About what he says, how sometimes Tyler gives in to him, like at the party. He tells him what he's been saying recently, about Josh.  
"Tyler." Josh looks at Tyler with an intense and serious gaze. "I'm your best friend. I would never leave you. Melanie is my friend, but she's no where near as good of a friend to me as you. I just met her. She could never take me away from you. Remember that, ok, Tyler? And I don't know if I can help you get rid of Blurry. You have to do that on your own for him to stay gone. But I can try to help." Josh hugs Tyler for the third time tonight and Tyler buries his face in Josh's shirt again. 

 

"Thank you, Josh." Tyler says looking up at the boy with candy hair that he had met only months ago, but he meant so much to him. The boys fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really know how to write this chapter but here you go.  
> *also in exited Melanie is finally in here 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	5. Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are so much like that day they went for the first time. 
> 
> *Very slight Blurry warning at the beginning

Josh's POV 

 

Josh wakes up to find Tyler sitting in the corner with his eyes closed and his knees pulled up to his chest. He telling someone to go away. It reminds him of what happened at school months ago, except Tyler isn't screaming. 

"Go away! He's not lying! He's my best friend!" Tyler isn't screaming yet, but his voice is raised.   
Josh knows he should say something, but he's not sure what to say. 

"Tyler." Josh says while walking towards the other boy. "Stop, Tyler. Your ok. It's ok. I'm right here. Focus on my voice. Not anything else, ok. Ignore everything he tells you, ok. Your alright, buddy. Your ok."   
Tyler nods and calms down. 

"Thank you." He says before giving Josh a faint smile. 

"You ok?" Josh says smiling. 

"Yeah." 

"You want some food? I have cereal." Josh says while getting a new change of clothes ready. Tyler nods. Josh goes into the bathroom to change and when he comes out the boys go downstairs. Josh pours them both a bowl of Cheerios. They sit at the table. 

"What do you wanna do today?" Josh asks while taking a bite. 

"I don't know. Maybe we can do something with Melanie? I wanna get to know her more." Tyler says. Tyler doesn't seem like he wants to be around people he doesn't really know. But Josh shrugs and says ok.   
The boys finish up and go upstairs to get ready. Josh gets out his phone and sees a text from Melanie.   
'Is Tyler ok?' He replies 'yes and he wants to hang out with you. can you come to the park near my house?'   
'Yeah sure. Address?' She says and Josh tells her.

"Melanie is on her way to the park. Do you wanna head out?" Josh tells Tyler with a smile. Tyler nods and the boys start the walk. Tyler zones out a lot on the way and almost wanders into the street. When they get there it's only a few minutes until Melanie is there on her bike. 

"Hey guys!" She yells while running down the hill. "Can we do the tire swing?" She says when she sees it.   
The boys nod and they walk over to it. 

They all take a different side on the swing. Josh is reminded a lot about the first time him and Tyler came here. That was so fun. Josh hopes Tyler is ok. He doesn't like to see him best friend hurting. 

"Ready?" Melanie says with the biggest smile. Josh is nervous. Melanie seems like she's going to do something. She starts swinging and turning and the boys are helping her. They are going really fast now. Faster then when Josh had fallen off with Tyler. 

"Oh my god!" Melanie screams. Her eyes are squeezed shut and her knuckles are white from holding the chains. So are Tyler's. But Tyler is watching his friends. Josh is laughing at them and his hands slip. He screams while he falls off the swing and into the grass.   
Melanie screams. Without Josh's weight in the swing it gets unbalanced. Melanie and Tyler fall of at the same time.   
They get up and look at each other and busty into laughter. This is so much like Josh's experience here with Tyler. He likes that he can almost experience it again with Melanie. Josh is happy. Melanie is happy. But Josh is most excited that Tyler is happy. Tyler seemed so broken last night when Josh found him. Josh never wanted Tyler to feel like that again. But he knew that he couldn't keep that feeling away. He couldn't help and he felt terrible for that. 

"Oh my god, Mel. Your dress." Tyler says while looking at the grass stains on the back of Melanie's pink dress. She looks at herself and then Tyler. 

"Look at your jeans." She says. Tyler's jeans are also grass stained. Josh looks down at his and sure enough, there are green stains. Tyler tries to brush it off with little luck. Josh wishes this moment would never end. He loves it here with his friends. He loves that Tyler isn't hurting. He loves that Melanie is getting along with his other friend. 

"Wanna play a game?" Melanie says while wandering to the see-saw. The boys follow. "Ok, so the two of you sit in either side, and I stand up in the middle and I try not to fall off. Then we switch. Wanna play?" 

"Sure." The boys said.   
They get on either side of the see-saw and the girl with the pink hair stands in the middle. The boys start rocking and Melanie is struggling to stay on. The boys are laughing and Melanie falls off. Josh is the next one to stand in the middle. He stays on for two minutes. Tyler is next and stays on for one minute. Melanie tells the boys to stay there and she runs to a flower bush and makes a flower crown. She runs back. 

"Get on your knees I'm going to knight you." She says. Josh is hesitant because he doesn't know what it is to 'knight someone' but he does what she says.   
Tyler is sitting on a bench laughing at the scene in front of him.   
Melanie taps a long stick on Josh's shoulders.

"I now bestow knighthood upon Joshua Dun." She puts the flower crown in his head. "Now rise, sir Joshua!" Josh stands up and Tyler is clapping and laughing. Josh bows. Tyler walks up to him. 

"You never told me you were a knight." Tyler jokes.

"I never knew" Josh says.   
Tyler and Melanie begin climbing up the rock. Josh goes up last. While they're up there they laugh and joke and tell stories. Melanie checks her phone. 

"I gotta go, it's almost one and my parents don't know I'm here." She says while beginning to get off the rock. 

"Can you do something later tonight?" Josh asks while Melanie jumps off.

"Yeah, should be fine. Bye guys!" She yells while hopping in her bike. 

"Bye!" The boys yell as she rides away. 

"Tyler, can you do something tonight?" Josh asks while watching Melanie ride away.

"Yeah." Tyler says.

"I'll go get you."

"Ok"  
The boys sit in silence for a second

"I like her." Tyler says.

"Who, Melanie? She's awesome." Josh laughs. 

"Well I better get going too." Tyler says while getting off the rock. Josh says ok and gets off the rock too. The boys walk to Josh's house. When they're there Tyler gets his things and they get into Josh's car.   
When they're at Tyler's house the boys say their goodbyes.   
Josh can't wait until tonight. He wants to see his friends again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short and weird IM SORRY. But thanks for reading and stuff. I hope you like my story so far. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	6. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler decides to have dinner with his family. Blurry decides to visit. 
> 
>  
> 
> *Blurry warning (which is kinda like a trigger warning. They kinda go together, right? I don't know.)

Tyler's POV again. 

 

Tyler couldn't wait until he saw his friends again. When he came him his mother was pacing in the kitchen. When she saw him she looked angry. 

"Tyler where were you? You were supposed to come back yesterday after the party! What were you doing?" She yells. Tyler's smile fades. He hates when people yell at him. 

"The party went later then expected so I went home with Josh." He says looking at his shoes.

"Well why didn't you come home earlier? It's 2:00! You could have at least called! I was worried about you Tyler!" She yelled louder this time. 

"I went with Josh and another friend to the park." Tyler said while going upstairs. He just wanted to sleep until he could see Josh and Melanie again.   
He woke up to his mom's voice.

"Tyler, honey I'm sorry. You just scared me that's all. I didn't mean to yell I'm sorry. Dinner is ready if you want to come down. If you don't your father will bring it up, ok?"

"Ok mom." Tyler says. Should he go down for dinner? He wants to know his siblings better but it's hard. He decides to.  
Tyler walks down the stairs and takes his place at the table. It's where it was last time he ate with his family. He wonders if when he doesn't come down, if they leave his plate there. He looks at his sister who's smiling at him. He forces a smile back. He starts eating his food. It's salad tonight. The others talk about their day and Tyler doesn't zone out. He answers questions and pays attention. He's proud of himself. He's having a good day. The morning was a bit rough, though. But Tyler had such a good time with his friends, the morning was forgotten. They were halfway done with the meal when all that changed. 

'you really think that i would let you have that good of a day?' 

Oh god. Oh no. Not now. Tyler didn't want his family to think he was crazy. He had never told anyone but Josh about Blurry. His family thought they were panic attacks or something, Tyler isn't sure.   
But he's never done this right in front of them. But he couldn't get up and leave. Blurry wouldn't let him. Tyler didn't even want to try. He might fall over and his family might've freaked out. 

'oh tyler. worrying yourself? how weak.' 

Stop it stop it stop it. Tyler's heart is racing but his family doesn't seem to notice yet. 

'tylerrrrrrrrr. your family is gonna freak. but they know your a freak. you'll just look like a bigger one. you know they're embarrassed about you, right?' 

What? Tyler never thought his siblings were embarrassed by him. He felt bad. He felt like he was ruining their lives. He looked at his smiling family and he felt bad. He hid his face and his eyes started watering. 

'thEy HAte YoU TylER. ThEY WisH YOu woUlD DIE. THEN THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE THEY DONT KNOW YOU. THEY WOULDN'T HATE YOU ANYMORE IF YOU DIED. THEY WOULD LOVE YOU. SO DIE, TYLER. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!' 

"No I don't!" Tyler screams with tears pouring down his face. His family stop talking in the middle of the conversation and turn to look at him. 

"Tyler. Don't interrupt your sister." His dad says. He doesn't know what's happening. But Tyler starts scratching at his arms and at pulling at his hair. Then his dad knows something more is going on here.

'WOW TYLER. NOW THEYRE GONNA HATE YOU EVEN MORE. IMAGINE IF SOMEONE'S FRIEND CAME OVER AND YOU DO THIS. THEY WOULD HATE YOU SO MUCH MORE. BUT THAT DOESNT HAVE TO HAPPEN, TYLER. YOU CAN DIE NOW AND SAVE THEM THE TROUBLE OF DEALING WITH YOU.'

"No! Your lying! Go away! Leave me alone! Go away!" Tyler screams. He's moving around so much in his chair that he falls off.   
His family doesn't know what to say. They are staring at him with wide eyes when the doorbell rings. His father slowly walks to the door without taking his eyes off Tyler, whose arms are bleeding now from all the scratching. He opens the door and a boy with bright yellow hair is standing there. 

"Hi, Mr. Joseph. Tyler left his charger at my house. Sorry I couldn't get it to him earlier I was doing my hair." Josh says while running his fingers through his hair. Josh hears Tyler screaming something. His smile fades.   
"Is Tyler ok?" Josh says while looking past the man in front of him trying to find Tyler. Tyler's father mutters something like 'I don't know' and Josh sees Tyler in the floor. Josh runs past the man and sits next to Tyler. 

'OH LOOK, ITS THE LIAR. DONT TRUST HIM, TYLER. HES GOING TO SAY EVERYTHING IS OK BUT ITS NOT. ITS NOT BECAUSE YOU HATE YOURSELF AND YOU WANT TO DIE.' 

'He's not a liar! And I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to!!" Tyler screams. 

"Tyler. It's me. It's Josh. You gotta calm down, alright. Just listen to my voice. You'll be alright. It's ok. Just listen. Think happy thoughts. Think about when Melanie knighted me. Think about when we were in the tire swing. Think about our jokes on the top of the rock. You can fight this, you just have to try." Josh says comfortingly. His hand is on Tyler's shoulder. Tyler nods and his heart beat slows down. He's taking deep breaths and squeezing Josh's hand. When Tyler's calmed down he opens his eyes and they go immediately to Josh's hair. 

"Your hair." He says and reaches out to run his fingers through it. Josh laughs. 

"I did it after I took you home." He says with a smile. 

"Thank you. F-for helping me." Tyler mumbles. 

"It's ok. You don't need to thank me. I'm your best friend. I'm here for you." Josh says with a reassuring smile. "Do you wanna get up now?" Tyler nods and Josh helps him up. Tyler sits in his chair and Josh stands next to him. His family are looking at Tyler in shock. They have never seen Tyler do anything like that. But Josh obviously has. He knew how to deal with it perfectly. 

"Tyler, what was that?" His dad asks. 

"I-I-I- it just happens sometimes." Tyler mutters while staring at his half eaten plate of salad. 

"Josh, can I talk to you?" His dad says while watching his son. 

"Yes, Mr. Joseph." Josh says while walking to the man who leads him into the next room. Tyler thinks they're talking about his little episode. 

"I'm sorry I had to do that here." Tyler says while looking down. He's embarrassed. His family probably is too. Blurry was right. Tyler is scared that Blurry is speaking the truth. His eyes tear up when his mother speaks. 

"It's ok, Tyler. But I'm going to talk to you about something before you go to bed tonight." She says with a smile that Tyler can tell is fake. He says ok and keeps eating.  
His siblings aren't saying anything. Tyler has to force himself not to think about how embarrassed they are of him or he might start crying again. Josh comes out of the room followed by his father. Josh smiles at Tyler. Tyler throws back a small smile and finishes his meal. He puts his plate away and starts heading upstairs. Josh is heading out the door when he stops Tyler.

"We're still heading out tonight, right?" Josh asks. 

"Yeah. Text me when you get here." As Tyler says this Josh smiles and slips out the door. Tyler runs upstairs and collapses on his bed. He's staring at the ceiling thinking about what Blurry said when he hears a knock on the door and the creaking of the door opening slowly. 

"Tyler? I need to talk to you about something." His mom says while sitting herself on the bed. Tyler looks at her as if to tell her to go on.   
"Tyler what happened during dinner?" His mom has a serious look on her face. 

"There was a voice inside my head telling me everybody hates me and it wouldn't go away." Tyler says. He's not going to tell her anything more than that. 

"Ok, honey, I think we need to get you a therapist. We signed you up and your first visit will be in about a month, ok, Tyler?" She says with a smile. 

"Yeah, fine." Tyler says while rolling into his side so he's not facing his mother. He doesn't want a therapist. A random stranger isn't going to get Blurry to go away. They'll just give Tyler more pills. But he knows if he argues he'll never get to sleep. His mother nods and leaves the room. When she's out Tyler turns around. He's tired. He falls asleep quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He was lucky Josh was there. But he won't always beee. 
> 
> I have the next few chapters written already so you shouldn't have to wait so long ;-)  
> Thanks for reading!!!!!!
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	7. Truce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melanie and Josh discover that Tyler can sing.

Tyler wakes up to his phone vibrating in his pocket. He sits up and looks at it. It's a text from Josh.   
Joshhhh: 'Hey Ty I'm on my way. Be ready.' 

Tyler checks the time.

Ty:'dude it's 4:30 am.' He replies snd within seconds his phone buzzes again.

Joshhhh: 'Yes I know. Just get ready. I already got Melanie.'  
Tyler almost falls off the bed and he starts getting ready. When he's ready he sits and waits on his bed. When his phone buzzes he knows it's Josh and looks out the window to be sure he's there. Tyler knows his parents will be mad if Tyler isn't there, so he locks his door and climbs out the window. He runs up to Josh's car and gets in. Melanie is half asleep in her seat. The opening of the door startles her. She looks back to see who it is. 

"Oh, hey Ty." She says while buckles his seatbelt. 

"Hellooo." He says to the girl. Then he turns his attention to Josh. "Where are we going at 4:30 in the morning?" 

"Just wait." Josh says with a large smile.   
The drive is about twenty minutes. Melanie falls asleep halfway through. Tyler is almost asleep by the time they get there. Josh sees his sleepy friends and honks the horn to wake them up. Melanie jumps and so does Tyler. Melanie playfully punches Josh is the arm. 

"Come on we're here." Josh says while slipping out of the car. Tyler and Melanie follow. They are at a spot almost like the countryside. It's a course for dirt bikes. The view from the parking lot is amazing, though. They see hills and the starts perfectly.   
Josh starts climbing up onto the roof of his car. His friends look confused but then follow him. 

"We are going to watch," Josh throws his hands up "nature!" He pauses for a second. "The sun is almost gonna rise, and the stars look real nice from here." Josh lays back in the car and his friends follow him. 

"That seems wonderful." Melanie says while looking at the stars above her.   
They joke and point out constellations until the see a faint light. The sun is rising. The trio sits up and watches as night fades away. They watch as a new day with new challenges and struggles, but also with new happy memories and laughter, begins. A new day in which they get to try again is starting. 

"Tyler, you should sing." Josh says while looking at the other boy. 

"Sing?" Tyler doesn't know why Josh wants him to sing. He doesn't know how he's ever heard him sing. 

"Yeah, your voice is beautiful. You sang in your sleep one time." 

"Oh. I guess so." Tyler says. He doesn't know what to sing, but he knows he's gonna try. He doesn't want to let his fears to keep him from trying. But what if he fails? What if he messes up and Josh and Melanie judge him? 'Oh no too deep please stop thinking' he tells himself. He makes up a quick song in his head. He takes a deep breath and begins to sing. 

"Now, the night is coming to an end. The sun will rise and we will try again. Stay alive, stay alive for me. You will die, but now your life if free. Take pride in what is sure to die." Tyler stops when the sun is halfway up. 

"Keep going, Tyler. Please?" Josh pleads. Tyler nods and keeps going.

"I will fear the night again. I hope I'm not my only friend. Stay alive, stay alive for me. You will die, but now your life is free. Take pride in what is sure to die."   
The sun is all the way up now, and Melanie and Josh are smiling. Tyler smiles at the sight of his happy friends. 

"Your a really good singer, Ty." Melanie states with her eyes still on the rising sun. 

"Thank you, but your probably a great singer, too." Tyler says while looking at the girl with the pink hair. She's wearing a red dress today. It looks kind of tight on the top, but at the bottom it flares out slightly. Melanie smiles at the boys comment. 

"No I'm not." She says. 

"You should sing, Mel." Josh says while looking at Melanie. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. The boys begin to chant "do it do it do it" and she smiles and says fine. She pulls out her phone and opens up the notes app. 

"I wrote a song. It's not very good but you if you guys insist." She says while finding her song. "It's not finished but here you go.   
Drown me in my daily cup of tea. Tell the porcupines to quit stabbing me. They make me fall, but I will stand cuz all of them are jerks with their cups in their hands. Now they want a whisper, a whisper from me. Cuz all of them have watched me on their big screen TVs. But what about lil ol' lil ol' me? The one who got bullied because of her teeth.   
I hope you all are watching my middle finger rise to the bullies in the school yard I know I'm on your mind. Now you say you love me, but what about before? When I was just that silly little girl next store.  
Ladies, oh ladies, why are you so mad? Is it cuz I'm classy and your a trash bag? Your teasing and laughing resonates through my heart. And now your calling me cuz you want a fresh start.  
And that's all I got." She finishes and puts her phone away.   
The boys clap. 

"That was amazing, Mel!" Tyler says with a huge smile. 

"Thank you." Melanie says while blushing. 

"Did you seriously say 'is it cuz I'm classy and your a trash bag'?" Josh asks with an eyebrow raised. 

"Yes. Yes I did, Joshua." She says with a laugh. Her friends laugh too. They tell jokes and have a good time until Tyler checks the time. 

"Oh no, guys it's 6:00 I have to go my parents don't know I came here." Tyler says with a worried expression on his face. 

"Ok, then. Lets go he says as he jumps off the car and opens his door. Melanie and Tyler both jump off and fight for the shotgun seat. Tyler gets it. Melanie huffs and takes her seat in the back. When they get to Tyler's house he gets out of the car and Melanie scrambles to get his seat. 

"Thank you for taking me, Josh, I had a good time. And Melanie, thank you for nothing." Tyler says with a smile. 

Melanie pretends to look hurt. "For nothing?" She says. The boys laugh. Tyler waves to them and climbs into his window. Tyler smiles as he lays down onto his bed. He's thinking of what just happened when he notices his door is open.   
Oh no, he thinks. He shouldn't have locked the door. His dad would have thought something was wrong when he went to check in his room before work. He probably used the key to open his door and when he wasn't there freaked out and woken his mother.   
Tyler hears footsteps down the hall. He quickly lays down and pretends to be sleeping. But he knows it won't help. His mother already knows he wasn't there. The footsteps are getting closer. His mother's head poked around the corner. 

"Tyler!" She screams. Tyler flinches and turns to face her. "What we're doing? We were worried about you Tyler! Someone could have taken you! Where were you?" She was yelling pretty loud so Tyler's siblings woke up. His sister poked her head in the room but quickly left when she saw her mothers expression. 

"I-I was out." Tyler says without making eye contact with his mother. 

"Doing what? With who?" She demands. 

"I went out w-with friends." Tyler says while burying his face in his hands. 

"Which friends Tyler?" She says. She looks disappointed. Angry. That makes Tyler sad. It makes him feel like Blurry was right. But he can't think that. Then Blurry would know that Tyler is weak. But he already knows that. So maybe it won't be too bad. But Tyler knows that's a lie. 

"J-Josh and M-Melanie." Tyler manages to say. He's scared. Scared that his mom won't let him see Josh and Melanie anymore. But his mom doesn't know Melanie. He doesn't know what she'll say. 

"Who's Melanie?" His mom asks. She looks confused. 

"I met her at the party" Tyler says. 

"She? Tyler do you like her?" His mom is smiling now. She likes the fact that Tyler is doing regular teenage things since he met Josh.

"Eww no mom she's just a friend." Tyler says. 

"Oook." She says sarcastically. "But I do not want you to be going out this late without telling me, ok?"   
Tyler nods and turns away from the woman in the doorway. She leaves and when she closes the door Tyler falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kinda short sorry. Also the songs used are Truce by Twenty Øne Piløts and Dear Porcupines by Melanie Martinez 
> 
> PORCUPINES 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	8. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of school and there's already problems. 
> 
> *Blood warning also a flashback to something that happened to Melanie that may be a little disturbing to some of you.

The next few months go by. Tyler and Melanie strengthen their friendship. So do Tyler and Josh. Now it's August. It's the first day of senior year for the boys and the pink-haired girl. The group is inseparable. They made plans to meet up by the front doors today.   
Tyler walks up and sees Melanie in the corner. She sees him and immediately runs towards him and gives him a hug. 

"I missed you, Tyyyy." She says. 

"We saw each other yesterday, Mel." Tyler says with a smile. Then the two hear someone talking next to them. 

"Got yourself a girlfriend, Tyler?" Pete says. Tyler smile falls. He had such a good summer without Pete teasing him he almost forgot about him. 

"She's a friend, Pete." Tyler says with a surprising amount of confidence. Pete is surprised. He never thought that Tyler would be that confident.   
Pete grabs style by the shoulder and makes the smaller boy face him. 

"Don't say things like that to me, or your gonna have a problem on your hands." Pete says without letting Tyler go.

"Let him go." Melanie says behind him. Pete practically throws Tyler to grab Melanie. She's trying to get him to let go. One of Pete's friends grabs Tyler and pulls him over to where he can see Melanie struggle without being able to reach her. Pete makes a fist and throws his elbow back. Tyler realizes he is going to punch Melanie. 

"Stop! Leave her alone!" Tyler screams while struggling. People are gathering around and watching but no one is helping. All the teachers are inside until it's time for the kids to come in. Melanie starts crying and Tyler can't take it all so he does too.  
But then Tyler sees the familiar face and yellow hair of Josh. He's walking in the sidewalk, not noticing what's going on because he has his headphones in and is walking the other way. 

"Josh!" Melanie and Tyler scream in unison. He turns his head and takes one headphone out. His smile turns to a horrified look and he begins running to his friends. Josh grabs Pete's arm and makes him face him. Tyler squeezes his eyes shut because he does not want to see Josh get hurt, especially by Pete. But then he hears Pete scream and gets confused. Melanie is on the ground and so is Pete. His nose is bleeding. Josh is standing above him rubbing his red knuckles. 

"Don't you dare mess with my friends again, Pete." Josh says while helping up Melanie. The boy holding Tyler lets him go and runs away as Pete gets up and follows. Josh asks his friend if they are ok. They nod. 

"Thank you." Tyler says. Josh smiles at him. 

"No problem, Ty. You guys are my bestest friends. I could never let something happen to you guys." Josh replies. Tyler gives him a small smile.   
Melanie looks scared out of her mind. She's still crying and she's staring at a spot in the concrete where Pete's bloody nose has spilled and left a red mark. She shakes her head and looks at Josh. 

"Hey are you ok?" He asks her. 

"Yeah things are just weird at home and reminded me of when my dad..." She said while staring again at the stain on the sidewalk. 

"Oh, it's ok." Josh says while he pulls everyone into a hug.   
They walk inside the building and the vice principal calls Josh into his office. They probably saw what happened on the security cameras. Josh walks away from the pair and starts the principal's office. 

"My dad..." Melanie starts but is cut off when she begins crying. 

"It's ok." Tyler says while sitting down with her against the wall. 

"My mom was d-drunk. My dad was cheating on her and she... she just." Melanie chocked back sobs. "She killed them both. Right in the kitchen. Just left the bodies there. I f-found them. I called the cops. They took her away. I had to take care of me and my brother. But he was always on drugs so they took him away too and gave me to a new family. They have a son my age. He goes here." When she finishes talking she starts crying again. 

"Oh, Mel. I'm so sorry." Tyler hugs her and she buries her face in his shirt. Melanie feels safe in Tyler's arms. Safer than she's ever felt with her new family. Her new family- she wouldn't even call them her family. Because they weren't. But she knew they loved her and were trying their best to get her to feel as if they were her family, but it was so hard for Melanie to accept what happened that day. That day was the worst day in her life. That was the day her world was torn apart. But right now, it was being mended back together. Being here in Tyler's arms seemed to make everything Ok again. That's when the girl realized that the boy who had been too scared to speak to her when they had first met, was the boy who made her happy. Melanie had a crush on Tyler.   
Just then a boy with dark hair that had been fluffed up to reveal a large forehead came running up to the duo. He knelt next to Melanie. 

"Hey, Mel. Are you ok? Ryan told me what happened." The boy says. Tyler has seen him walking the halls. He has a lot of friends and he's pretty popular. Tyler wonders how he knows the girl everyone calls Crybaby. 

Melanie lets go of Tyler and replies "I'm ok, thank you." She sniffs and wiped her eyes. She looks at Tyler who is looking at the boy. The boy turns his head to Tyler, who drops his eyes. The boy turns to Melanie with his eyebrows knitted together. 

"Who's this? You never said anything about a boyfriend. Is he your boyfriend? Why didn't you tell me Melanie? I'm your brother." The boy says. He looks worried. Maybe he just doesn't want Melanie getting hurt. But then Tyler realizes the boys last words 'I'm your brother.' This boy was most likely part of Melanie's new family. Tyler looks at Melanie.   
She's shaking her head and saying "No, no, no. He's my friend." 'But I'm just now realizing I have a crush on him' she thinks. 

"Oh, ok." The boy says, looking unconvinced. "My name's Brendon Urie. I'm Melanie's brother. So if your thinking about trying anything with her, I'll find you." The boy says with a dark smile stretched across his lips. Tyler starts mumbling something when the boy says "I'm just kidding, bro. But she's just sensitive. Like you know, overly emotional." Melanie clears her throat and looks at Brendon as if to tell him to stop speaking. He rolls his eyes and keeps going "She's special. So be nice to her." As he finishes he holds out his hand as if he wants to Tyler to shake it. Why do people always do that when they meet you? Tyler is wondering why Brendon would tell him that Melanie is overly emotional. I mean, he is too. Maybe Brendon thinks he likes Melanie. Does he like Melanie? No. She like a sister to him. But as he stares into her deep brown eyes he realizes that this is the girl. This girl makes him happy. He quickly turns his head to Brendon, who's arm is still extended. Tyler shakes it and smiles. 

"I'm Tyler Joseph." He says while letting go. "Nice to meet you." 

Brendon nods and says "You too." Before walking off.   
Tyler looks back at Melanie. She giggles. 

"Sorry about him. He's just worried about me." She says but her smile sinks as she stares into Tyler's eyes and realizes he's staring back.   
Oh god, she's staring. What do I do what do I do? Tyler doesn't know what to think as the girl inches closer to him. There is just inches between the two now, and Tyler wants to close the gap, but is scared Melanie won't like him back. But she is the one getting closer to him, so she has to like him, right? Tyler can't answer his question because Melanie has decided to close the gap.   
Tyler pulls away when he feels someone staring at him. He turns around and sees Josh staring at them with his mouth open. Tyler immediately looks at the floor. Then to Melanie, who looks like she's gonna cry. 

"You guys were..." Josh starts but doesn't finish until Tyler looks him in the eyes. "You were k-kissing." 

"Tyler. I- I'm sorry." Melanie says as she gets up and practically runs away.   
The boys don't see her in any classes that day and Tyler doesn't see Brendon either, so he guesses they went home. Josh keeps trying to talk to Tyler about what happened, but he won't say anything until he knows Melanie is ok with it. But what if Melanie doesn't want to talk to him? What if Melanie regrets it? She probably hates me now. Tyler's mind swarms with questions until the day ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BRENDON IS HERE GUYS 
> 
> Also I know Melanie has a normal childhood I just wanted Crybaby's story in here a little bit but I respect her family. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	9. Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melanie is scared. 
> 
>  
> 
> *Mentions of blood and Melanie's past. It's not very graphic but there is mentions of blood and death... k bye

Melanie's POV 

 

As Melanie stares into Tyler's eyes she's completely mesmerized by the beautiful boy in front of her. She wants him to know that she likes him. But she's scared. Scared that a crush will turn to love. And she's scared of love. Because her mother loves her father. Or at least, did. Melanie knows the story of how they met very well, her mother told it every Valentine's Day. Her parents had met at school, from other friends. A crush grew to love. They eventually got married, then had her and her brother. But by the time they had her, there love wasn't that strong anymore. Her brother was two years older than her. Melanie remembered for the first 5 years of her life, her mother dearly loved her father. But her father began slipping away at night. When he came back he had smelt like another woman's perfume, and had lipstick stains on his collar. Melanie remembers the smell very well. It was cheap perfume, you could tell, but it smelt like roses, and her mother's smelt like candy, sweet. She remembers her mother yelling, when she found out about what her father had been doing. She remembers her sixth birthday, when her mother got too drunk and forgot about the girl. Melanie had spent the time from when she was 6 to 18 with a family who seemed perfect to others, but was broken. You see, whenever they would go out, her mother and father would pretend that they loved each other. Her mom would stop drinking a couple hours before they went out, to try to not be too drunk in front of people. Her parents wanted to be the perfect family, and for everyone but her family, it was. But then, the summer before high school. That's when everything fell apart. That was when her mother drank one too many drinks and decided she wouldn't deal with her husband anymore. It was that day that Melanie decided she hated her mother. Because she was never there for her, she was always either at the bar drinking or at home drinking. But, her father was there for her. He would take her and her brother to school, then come back home to a random girl. But Melanie didn't care as much that her father was a cheater. Because he would take care of her still. He would make them mac and cheese at night, give them medicine when they were sick, because even though he was a cheater, he still cared about his children. And Melanie loved that. But then it all came to a crashing end. When she went down the stairs that day. She saw the blood, a knife, and it was her mother holding the weapon. Her mother sat next to the bodies, crying. Melanie ran upstairs before her mother could see her. She ran into her brother's room because she knew they would protect each other. That's when she found out that her brother was a drug addict. He was facing the wall, smoking something. But it wasn't a regular cigarette, it was something different. But Melanie didn't address her brothers issue until after she called the cops. And you see, Melanie never wanted her future kids to relive that. She didn't want to relive that. That's why she was scared of love.   
But she found herself sitting there, in front of a boy that made her happy, and she starts inching closer. Her heart quickens as she is only a few inches from the boy. She waits to see if Tyler will close the gap, or if she should. And when she sees Tyler being hesitant, she goes for it. Now her lips are on those of the boy who she had just told her brother was not her boyfriend. They stay like that for a little bit, until Tyler pulls away. Melanie is slightly disappointed, Tyler had been her first kiss, and she loves that she shared that with Tyler.   
The boy turns around and looks behind him. Melanie looks too and freezes when she sees her friend with the yellow hair standing there with his mouth opened.   
Oh, how could she have been so careless? Tyler was her best friend, and she had probably just ruined their friendship. Melanie is almost crying when Josh speaks. 

"You guys were..." Josh stops and looks at Tyler. "You were k-kissing." He says. He looks surprised. Melanie would be surprised if she saw her best friends randomly kissing. 

"Tyler. I-I'm sorry." Melanie says and then runs away. She doesn't want to face the boys right now. Melanie runs until she finds Brendon, who's hanging out with his group of 'cool kids'.   
They boys with him make weird faces at her, like they don't know why she's here. Most of them probably don't know that she's Brendon's sister. Melanie is very insecure about her past and she asked Brendon if he wouldn't tell people. 

"Brendon." Melanie says. She wants to say more but she starts crying instead. Brendon starts walking towards the girl when his friend, Anthony, grabs his shoulder. 

"Why are you talking to the crybaby? She's a wimp. She can't do anything for herself. She doesn't deserve to talk to you." Anthony says with a smile on his face. Melanie thinks he's smiling because it's 'just so funny to make fun of Crybaby'.   
Brendon glared at the boy with a wicked tint in his eyes. He walks up to the boy and punches him in the stomach. Anthony hunches over, grabbing his stomach. 

"Don't talk about my sister that way." Brendon says while walking over to Melanie. His friends look shocked.   
When Brendon is close to his sister she wraps him up in a hug, and he stops in his tracks. He's not used to Melanie hugging him. 

"What happened?" Brendon asks when Melanie lets him go. 

"I just want to go home. I can tell you on the way." Melanie says with her head down. Brendon nods and they walk to his car. Once they're in and they've started driving Melanie decides that since Brendon is loving her like a sister, she should love him like a brother. 

"Brendon," Melanie starts. 

"Yeah, Mel?" Brendon asks while turning. 

"Well, you know that kid, Tyler? Well, I-i kinda have a crush on him. And after you left we kinda- he- well really it was me-" she sighs "I kissed him, and it was ok, because he kissed back but then my other friend showed up and he wasn't supposed to see that and I guess it's ok, we weren't trying to hide it or anything, but like, they're my only friends. I don't want things to be awkward. And Brendon I'm scared." As Melanie says this she starts crying again. Brendon looks as if he doesn't know what to say as they pull into their driveway. 

"Melanie." Brendon looks the girl in her eyes. "It'll be fine, ok. Just as long as you try to make it ok. If you ignore them, it won't get any better. Even if they don't want to be your friends anymore, you'll always have a seat at my table, ok? And there's a girl who sits with me, her name is Ashley, but she likes to be called Halsey, she seems like she would get along with you. Just know that I have your back, ok, Mel? Always." He finishes with a smile. Melanie smiles too. 

"Thank you, Bren." Melanie says while reaching out to hug him. 

"Oh, but Mel, if you end dating Tyler, I want to have a talk with him." Brendon says as he takes off his seatbelt and grabs the keys. 

"Ok, but promise you want say anything bad?" The girls pleads while getting her seatbelt off as well. 

"I won't." Brendon replies. Then he holds out his pinky. "Promise." He says with a smile. 

Melanie smiles and puts her pinky around her brothers. "Promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was that? I wanted to tell you more of Melanie's past but was it ok? To me it seems long and weird. But THANKS FOR READING! Also I love your guys' feedback so comment if there's anything I can do to make it better. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	10. Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some stuff goes down.
> 
>  
> 
> *there is violence and a little blood

Still Melanie's POV

 

The next day Melanie gets in Brendon's car and he drives to school. He starts telling Melanie a story about a Disco party in the 70s. 

"Then the cockroaches fell from the disco ball! And everyone was panicking." Brendon said with a big smile on his face. 

"Umm. Ok?" Melanie says while looking very confused. Why is Brendon telling her this story? Why is he finding it so hilarious? 

"There was a panic! At the disco! How hilarious is that?" Brendon says while trying not to burst out in laughter. 

"Very hilarious." Melanie says with sarcasm. They arrive at the school and get out of the car. 

"Remember you can call me if anything happens, ok? I'm always here for you, Mel." Brendon says while hugging the girl. She nods and head out into the school. Then she remembers she's probably gonna see her crush today and goes into the bathroom to make sure she looks alright, because even though Tyler is her best friend, and probably doesn't care what she wears, you can never be too sure, right?   
She's wearing her hair in two high buns. She has on a blue dress with a little bow on the back. She has a bow in her hair, too. She does a quick touch up on her makeup and makes her way out of the bathroom. When she goes to her locker she stops when she sees Josh's yellow hair and Tyler's brown eyes in front of her locker. She takes a deep breath and heads to the boys. 

"Hello, boys." Melanie says while becoming suddenly very interested in her shoes. She starts putting in the combination to her locker when she hears Josh whisper 'good luck' to Tyler. 

"Melanie can I talk to you? Somewhere else?" Tyler says while nervously shuffling around. 

"Uh yeah, sure." Melanie says and then follows Tyler to an empty hallway. 

"M-Melanie, yesterday I realized something, something that I should have noticed a while ago. I-I like you, Melanie." Tyler says while looking at the girl. 

"Tyler, are you serious?" She says with a smile. Tyler nods. 

"I-I like you too, Tyler." Melanie says with a smile on her lips. 

"Do you wanna umm go out with me?" Tyler says in a scared way. Melanie wishes he isn't scared. That makes this awkward. She didn't want it to be awkward. 

Melanie nods and then whispers "Yes." She looks up to Tyler's face, which now has a hug smile thrown into it.   
Tyler hugs Melanie and they both smile. Tyler laces his fingers with Melanie's as they walk back to Josh. Josh grins as he sees them. 

"I see that went well." Josh says as he sees the pair. Tyler nods. All three are smiling when the bell rings. Melanie's smile falls because she knows that she has English and the boys have Math.   
She tells the boys goodbye as she closes her locker and walks the other way. She hears footsteps behind her but just thinks it's another student who has English. But then a large hand grabs her shoulder and pushes her against the lockers. She drops her books and lets out a small scream. She recognizes the boy from Pete's group. His name is Patrick. Melanie tried to tell Siri to call Brendon but Patrick takes her phone and throws it at the wall behind them. 

"You lied to my boy Pete." Patrick says while messing up the bow in Melanie's hair. 

"I did nothing. Let me go." Melanie tried to sound confident, but she is seconds away from crying. 

"Your retarded boyfriend, Tyler, told Pete that you aren't dating, but you clearly are. So guess who gets to pay for it? You!" Patrick says with a wicked sound to his words. Melanie's crying now, she feels just so helpless, so small, so weak. 

"Oh, go ahead. Cry, Crybaby. It's not going to save you." Patrick says as he raises his fist.   
The first hit hurts the most. It's because Melanie doesn't think that Patrick will actually hit her. She is a girl. Boys don't hit girls and get away with it. But still, more punches rained down on the small girl. She knows if she can just stick it out until the bell rings, everyone would come out and see this happening. But it's hard for her just not to pass out right now. Black dots are littering her vision. Her head is spinning but she knows she has to hold on. She feels a warm liquid trickling down from her nose. She knows it's blood. What else would it be? Melanie is on the floor now and Patrick is kicking her.   
The bell rings and Melanie lets out a quiet sigh because Patrick should stop now, so people don't see him. But he doesn't. He doesn't stop until he notices people staring. Then he takes off down the hallway, leaving the bleeding girl on the hallway floor. She groans. Her body hurts. He's been punching and kicking her for almost an hour now. Then she hears the oh so familiar laughter of the one and only: Tyler Joseph. The boys stop at the crowd surrounding the girl. Josh, who is taller than Tyler looks over the crowd and sees the girl in the ground. 

"Oh no Tyler." Josh says. Tyler gets scared. He has no idea what happened. 

"What? What happened?" Tyler asks with wide eyes. 

"Melanie. She's bleeding." Josh says. And then both boys are pushing through the crowd. When Tyler and Josh see the defeated girl on the ground they hold back tears. 

"Melanie? Stay awake, ok? We're getting help." Tyler says while taking the girls in his arms. 

"Tyler..." That's all Melanie manages to say before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like my writing...
> 
>  
> 
> I have a plan for where this is gonna go it's not ending soon, but a lot of things are gonna happen in the next few chapters so yes. Also (*spoiler alert*) Tyler and Melanie aren't gonna last very long. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	11. Suprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler is confused. But he does it anyway. Good for him.

Tyler's POV 

 

Tyler sits on a chair in a hospital waiting room. Josh is next to him. Brendon is on Tyler's other side. After they found Melanie she passed out and the school nurse had to call an ambulance. The school excused the boys to see Melanie. Right now they are waiting for some information on her. 

"Melanie Martinez?" A young nurse says. The boys quickly stand up and rush over to her. 

"Are you boys her family?" The nurse asks with a smile. 

"We're her brothers." Brendon says. 

The nurse nods and says "Melanie is fine. She just woke up. She should be able to go home today, but she might need pain medication. Would you like to see her?" The boys nod and the nurse shows them to her room. She opens the door and walks away.   
Brendon runs up to Melanie first. She smiles but she looks so scared on the bed. She looks exhausted, and her eyes are puffy from crying. 

"What happened? Are you ok? Who did this to you?" Brendon says while taking the girl's hand. 

"I-It was Patrick." Melanie says. Her voice is sounds dry. Brendon makes and angry face. 

"I will beat the living daylights out of that punk-" Brendon starts but Melanie cuts him off. 

"Please don't. It would only make things worse." 

"Ok, Mel."   
The nurse comes into the room after quickly knocking on the door. 

"Can one of you boys came and fill out her paperwork? After that she can leave." The nurse says with a smile. Brendon gets up and leaves with her. God, that nurse is always smiling. What does she do when a patient dies? Does she throw on the obviously fake smile and say 'oh your loved one is dead'? Tyler wishes another nurse would have came out to get them. 

"Tyler, Josh, thanks for coming." Melanie croaks out. 

"We are your best friends, Mel. We wouldn't have left you here." Josh says while walking over to the girl. 

"Why did he do that?" Tyler asked. 

"He said you lied to Pete and that he would have to take it out on me." Melanie says. 

"He did that because of m-me?" Tyler asks. Tyler feels horrible. Because of him, his best friend suffered. He didn't want Josh to have to suffer too. He feels bad that his friends are so good to him, when he will just get them hurt. He is almost crying when Brendon opens the door. 

"Doctor said we can go, Mel. Come on guys." Brendon says with a smile. Melanie changed out of her hospital gown and back into her dress. It's still dirty from being on the floor and it's ripped a little.   
While she's getting ready the boys wait for her outside the room. 

"Wait, so is she like you girlfriend now?" Josh asks Tyler. Brendon's eyes go wide. 

"Girlfriend?" He asks. 

"Well, I only asked her out today. She said yes and that's all." Tyler says nervously. Is Melanie his girlfriend? No, they never even went on a date. 

"Aww, my baby sister has a boyfriend." Brendon says. "But, I'm still gonna have to have a talk with you." Tyler nods and Melanie walks out of the room. She redid her hair and makeup.   
The group walks out of the hospital. They all get in their cars, Tyler with Josh and Melanie with Brendon. Josh looks at the boy in his passenger seat. He thinks of the smile that hasn't been on his face since they found Melanie on the ground. Josh hopes the other boy will be ok. Josh saw the look on Tyler's face when Melanie told him why Patrick did what he did.   
Josh knows that look. That's the look someone gives when they're planning something. Something bad. 

"Josh?" Tyler says, interrupting the other boy's thoughts, probably for the better. 

"Yeah, Ty?" Josh answers. 

"I feel bad." Tyler says with tears pooling in his eyes. 

"Why, buddy?" 

"Because Patrick did that to her because of me. It's because of me that she's hurting and I hate myself for it. He should've done it to me. And I feel like dying, Josh. I feel like a horrible person and you guys deserve a better friend than me. I'm sorry I'm a mess up. I'm sorry I caused you and Mel so much pain. I'm sorry I'm a bad friend. I'm so so sorry." Tyler buries his face in his hands and starts bawling. Josh pulls his car over at the nearest gas station and lets Brendon keep going. 

"Tyler, listen to me." Josh says as he looks Tyler in the eyes, which are watering like crazy. "Don't say that about yourself. You didn't do anything wrong, it was Patrick. It was not you. Your the bestest friend I could ever ask for. Don't tell yourself otherwise. Because to me, Tyler, your perfect."   
Josh's face is near Tyler's now. Oh god. That's the second time this week that's Tyler has been in this position. But Tyler knows he can't kiss Josh. Because of Melanie. Because he didn't like boys. But maybe he did. When he was very little he liked his old friend, Liam. And now, as he stared into the eyes of this boy who he had met last year he realizes, that he wants to lean forward and kiss him.   
So, he does.   
Josh seems surprised for a moment, before kissing him back. They stay like that, before Tyler pulls away. 

"Josh?" Tyler squeaks. His eyes are watering again. Tyler shakes his head and opens the car door. The gas station isn't too far from Tyler's house, so he starts running. He can hear Josh call for him, but he doesn't turn back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I logged off and I couldn't log back on and that's why I've taken so long and I've written more chapters so I should be able to post more. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	12. Defeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler does some things he may regret...
> 
>  
> 
> *TRIGGER WARNING for Blurry, blood and self harm through the whole chapter so if you don't wanna read that you can skip this chapter.

Tyler lays in his bed crying. He doesn't understand why he thought he should kiss Josh. He likes Melanie. But he likes Josh too. Tyler is also confused because Blurry hasn't came back in a while. Maybe he knows Tyler can ruin his life on his own. But the second Tyler start thinking about Blurry, he comes back. 

'TYler, wHY DiD yOU dO ThAT?'

Tyler decides to not even try to fight back. His parents were out of town, so he didn't have to worry about them hearing him screaming. But Tyler didn't feel like fighting. He felt like listening to Blurry 100% for once. 

'GOD, TYLER. YOUR SUCH A MESS UP. EVERYONE HATES YOU. AND YOU HATE YOURSELF. YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. BLEED, TYLER. BLEED BLEED BLEED...'

Blurry goes on with the chant and Tyler stumbles out of his bed and into the bathroom. He wants a blade. He doesn't want to scratch himself until it bled. He wants instant satisfaction. He can't find anything in his bathroom, so he goes to his parent's. He sees a little pink object. When Tyler picked it up he recognizes it as his mom's razor. He brings it to his room and rips out one of the three blades from it. It isn't sharp enough to wear it would draw blood to the touch, but when he pushes it in he sees the blood coming out of his skin. Blurry has stopped chanting now. Blurry is satisfied. But Tyler isn't. He makes three more small cuts with the razor blade but still isn't satisfied with the shallow and small cuts so he stumbles out of him room and into his brother's, who is with a friend tonight. He knows his brother will have pocket knifes, and hopefully Tyler can find the blades. Tyler carefully goes through drawers when he finds one with three pocket knifes and some loose blades. Tyler picks one up and goes back to his room. Tyler locks himself in his room and then sits in the floor. The small cuts from earlier have stopped bleeding by now. Tyler holds his breath and buries his new blade into his wrist. He likes the deep, long cut it gives him more than the little one. Tyler slices up the skin on his forearm. He doesn't realize the seriousness of the situation until he's watching the blood fall onto his floor and he sees the blood on the blade.  
'Oh no. What did I do?' Tyler wonders to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short and horrible I'm sorry
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	13. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler says some things. 
> 
>  
> 
> *Trigger warning for mentioned self harm

Tyler picks up his phone with a trembling hand, his left arm is resting on the ground, because it's still bleeding. Tyler uses his right hand to scroll through his contacts until he sees the name of his best friend. Actually, he doesn't know what they are anymore. 

"Jish?" Tyler says with his eyes full of tears. 

"Tyler, it's midnight." Josh says. He's sleepy, Tyler can tell by his voice. 

"I-I messed up, I need you." Tyler says while looking down at his arm, which is so bloody he can't see skin anymore. His vision is getting blurry. Tyler isn't even sure of what he was trying to do. Was he trying to kill him self? Was he trying to bleed out until he was dead? Or was he just trying to see some blood, then stop? 

"Tyler? What do you mean? Are you ok? What did you do?" Josh says. Tyler can hear him moving around a lot. Tyler hopes he's getting ready to come save him. 

"Can you just come over? Hurry please." Tyler says while slipping in and out of unconsciousness. He drops the phone. Tyler can hear Josh saying something, but he can't tell what. Tyler passes out as he sees lights outside. 

 

\-------JOSH'S POV-------

Josh is freaking out so bad when Tyler stops talking. He hopes Tyler didn't do anything too bad. Josh drives to Tyler's house as quickly as possible, without running the risk of a ticket. He pulls up to Tyler's house to see none of the lights are on. Josh doesn't see any of Tyler's families' cars in the driveway so he knows Tyler is the only one home. He rings the doorbell with no answer. He rings it again.   
And again.   
And again.   
But then he remembers Tyler telling him that's there is a spare key under the mat. He lifts it to see a small silver key sitting there. It's cold when Josh picks it up, but his hands warm it up. He puts the key in the slot, then turns it. Josh opens up the door. It's pretty dark inside, but his eyes get used to it pretty quickly. Josh runs as fast as he can up to Tyler's room. He turns the doorknob but it's locked. Josh searches for a key and he finds a small one on the top of Tyler's doorframe. He puts it into Tyler's door and quickly swing the door open.  
Josh's heart skips a beat when he sees Tyler sitting unconscious on the floor, with his head resting on his bed. His left forearm was covered in blood. There is a bloody blade next to him. Josh rushes to the other boy and checks for a pulse. He could feel a faint, slowing heartbeat and knew that he had to hurry or Tyler might... No, he refused to think about that. Josh grabs a t-shirt from the ground and tied it around Tyler's arm while wiping tears from his eyes. He debated whether to call the ambulance or take him himself. He chooses to call the ambulance. He wants to make sure Tyler is ok or he would never forgive himself. He won't be able to live with himself knowing that he could have saved Tyler. Josh picks up the smaller boy and puts him in his car, then he gets in himself and rushes to the emergency room.   
He dials 911 as quickly as possible while holding the smaller boy's hand. 

"911, what is your emergency?" A girl's voice asks. 

"My- my friend, he's bleeding and he n-needs an ambulance." Josh has a hard time speaking because he's crying and breathing hard. 

"Ok, what's your address?"   
Josh gives the operator Tyler's address and waits for the ambulance while whispering soothing words to Tyler and trying to put pressure on the wound. It didn't take long before there was a knocking at he door.   
Josh rushes down and shows the people to Tyler. They grab him and put him on a stretcher, allowing Josh to come with him.   
Once they get to the ER, Tyler is rushed somewhere and Josh tries to follow him, but is stopped by a doctor asking him what happened.

"I don't know what he was trying to do but he did it to himself." Josh says while crying.

"I need to ask you some questions about him while they make sure he's stable, then you can see him." The doctor says while still holding back a struggling Josh. 

"B-but I need to make sure he's ok." Josh says while furiously wiping away tears. 

"We will do our best to help him, but I need to you answer some questions." The doctor says. Josh nods and is led to the counter, where the lady behind it gives him a clipboard, packet of questions, and a pen. Josh slumps into one of the chairs and starts filling out the packet. It had questions like  
'Patient Name:________________'  
'Patient Age:___________________'  
He finishes the questions and gives the packet to the lady at the counter. He sits in a chair. This is the second time this week that he's been here. He realizes that Melanie and Brendon have no idea that Tyler is here. In the short time that Josh has known Brendon, they have become friends, and Josh realizes that he isn't like his 'cool' friends who think it's funny to bully people. Brendon is actually really nice and funny.   
Josh pulls out his phone with a shaky hand. He finds Melanie's contact and presses the 'call' button. He hopes she's up. 

"Josh it's 1:00 am." Melanie says in a sleepy voice on the other end of the phone. 

"I know Mel, but can you and Brendon come to the ER on 1st?" Josh says. He doesn't know how Melanie will take the fact that Tyler is in here. She's a very sensitive girl, and Josh knows she worries too much. 

"Why? Who's hurt?" Melanie asks. She seems surprised and there a hint of fear in her voice. 

"It's Tyler." Josh manages to say without his voice cracking. 

"Oh God we'll be right there." Melanie says and then hangs up.   
Josh waits in his chair trying not to think of the worst when Melanie and Brendon rush through the doors. They spot Josh and go to sit with him. Melanie's eyes are red and puffy. She's been crying recently. Brendon looks sad. They each sit on either side of Josh. 

"What happened? Is Tyler ok?" Melanie says. 

Josh takes a deep breath. "He hurt himself. Pretty bad."   
Melanie starts crying and Josh tells them what Tyler said when he called him, and how he found him and took him here. Josh pulls Melanie towards him and hugs her. The girl cries into his shoulder. The trio sits there for a couple minutes before the nurse who smiles too much walks out into the waiting room. 

"Tyler Joseph?" She says. She's smiling. That must mean he's ok, right?   
The friends rush up to her. 

"Oh, you guys again? Your his siblings, right?" She asks and Josh nods. "Well, Tyler needed CPR for about 20 minutes, your supposed to stop after 15, but the nurses wouldn't give up, and that's the reason he's still here."

The nurse smiles "We had to give him a couple stitches, though. He's ok now, he's awake. We had to transfer him to the hospital. It's right next to here, you can walk right now if you want."   
Josh is still crying a bit, and Melanie seems like she's not in the talking mood, so Brendon does the talking. 

"Yeah, we'll go." He says. The nurse nods and smiles. God, she's always smiling.   
She turns and walks away. The trio gets to the hospital as quickly as possible, and soon a nurse is taking them to Tyler's room.

"Here he is." She says. She smiles and walks away.   
Josh opens the door and walks into the room. Melanie and Brendon follow him. Tyler is laying on a bed in the corner of the room. He is looking at his forearm when he hears the door open. 

"Oh god, Tyler." Josh says as he rushes up to his friend. "Tyler, you could have died."

Tyler looks confused. "No. I'm not dead. Look your right there." Tyler points at him "and there's Melanie." He points at the girl. "And there's Breadbin." He points at Brendon, who looks confused. Then there was a knock on the door before the nurse came in. 

"I forgot to tell you, Tyler had to be given some drugs for the stitches that might make him act weird." She says before smiling and leaving. 

"Oh." Melanie says. "He's just high." 

"Like a kiiiiiite." Tyler says. Then he starts singing "Flying hiiiiiigh" his voice goes up really high when he says that. 

"Shhh, Tyler there are probably people sleeping near here." Josh says. He almost smiles, because Tyler was being silly. But then he remembers that Tyler is just on drugs. 

"Oh your right." Tyler says in a whisper. "Hey, Melanie? Can you get me a bananana?" He turns to face the girl. 

"Ummm" She says. She's not sure if Tyler is actually hungry, or if he's just saying that. And even if he is hungry he probably has to eat hospital food. 

Tyler's eyes go wide. "No never mind I do not like bananas. I want a Red Bull, I'm sleeepy." He turns to Josh. "Hey Jishwa I'm tired. Can I go to sleepy time?" He asks. 

"Yes, Tyler." Josh says to him and in seconds he's asleep. 

"Well, he's crazy." Brendon says while looking at the sleeping boy. 

"He'll be fine, Brendon." Melanie says. "Hey, Josh I'm hungry I'm gonna go downstairs and find something to eat do you want anything?" 

"No I'll stay here with Tyler." Josh answers. 

"I'll go." Brendon says while walking to the door with Melanie following him. Josh hears the door open and close. It's quite loud, louder than he thought because Tyler wakes up. 

"Hey, Brendon." Tyler says to Josh. 

"I'm not Brendon, I'm Josh." The other boy says. 

"No, Brendon, you are Brendon. But you can keep secrets, right?" Tyler says. One of his eyes is closed. He looks like a child. 

"Yes, Tyler I can keep secrets." 

"Well I like this boy, but I also like Melanie. And they are both very nice, but I don't want to ruin our frenship. Because Josh is my best friend, but so is Melanieee. And I kissed Josh. And I liked it. But I also likes it when I kissed Melanie. But I think I might've liked Jish more. But I don't know anymore, Breendom. Buuut, I do know that me and Melanie are gonna break up soon. Because she needs someone who is emotionally stable. And I can't give her that and that scares her because she's emotional. And my brain isn't" Tyler makes air quotes." 'stable'. She's gonna break up with me. I heard Melanie tell Brendon all this when they left. But I'll be ok because I kinda wanna be with Jishwa." He stops for a second. Josh is looking at him with wide eyes. He likes me? He wants to be with me? Do I like him? Is he even talking the truth? He's on drugs. But he's gotta be telling the truth, because I heard Melanie talking with Brendon too. So if he didn't make that up, maybe he didn't make the rest up either. The thoughts swarm Josh's mind when Tyler starts talking again. 

"Wait. If Malanie was talking to you outside then how did you get back in here? Wait, Brendon when did you dye your hair?" Tyler's eyes go wide. "Oh no, it's Josh. Hey Josh, don't tell Josh I like him. Wait, Josh, your Josh. Jishwa, I'm confoozed and tired. Goodnight." And with that Tyler was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever I was on vacation then it was my birthday then school started. Also sorry this is short and weird.
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	14. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That wasn't supposed to happen. 
> 
>  
> 
> *I don't think there's any triggers here but like Tyler's mom is mean and I don't know IM  
> SORRY :'-(

Tyler wakes up when he hears the door open and close. Josh is still at his side. Melanie and Brendon walk into the room with water bottles. 

"We got you some water Josh." Melanie says while handing him a bottle. 

"Thanks." Josh replies and then turns his gaze back to the boy next to him. Brendon sits in a chair in the corner of the room and Melanie sits with him. Tyler rolls onto his side to face his friend. 

"Josh?" He says. 

"Yes?" 

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done tha-" Tyler is cut off by Josh. 

"Don't say that. Your ok. That's all that matters." Josh says and Tyler gives him a weak smile. The meds seem to have rubbed off.  
Does he remember what he said before he fell asleep?

"Tyler, we were so worried for you." Josh is crying. Tyler is crying now, too, and they can hear Melanie sniffle in the corner. Tyler's breathing speeds up and he curls into a ball on the blue sheets of the hospital bed. His heart is pounding. 

"Hey Tyler I need you to calm down. Breath with me, ok?" Josh says to the boy and then takes a series of deep breaths. Tyler takes deep breathes and his breathing slows to a normal speed. 

"It's ok, Tyler, because your here now and your ok." Josh tells him. 

"Did you tell my parents?" The younger of the boys asks. 

"The hospital is trying to contact them, and I think your siblings are coming." Josh says with a smile. He knows that Tyler doesn't really talk to his siblings. There's a knock on the door. The door opens to reveal Tyler's little sister, Madison. 

"Hey, Ty." She says with a smile. "Zach and Jay are going to get mom and dad at the airport."  
Tyler nods and Madison sits in a chair next to Brendon.  
Tyler and Josh make small talk as the others in the room sit and watch them. 

"Hey, Ty? I'm gonna go wait in the waiting room for everyone else." Madison says as she gets up and goes out the door. Brendon also leaves to go to the bathroom. 

"Hey, Ty?" Melanie says from her corner. "I-I don't think that you and me-"

"I know, Mel." Tyler cuts her off. "I heard you and Brendon talking in the hallway, it's ok. I was trying to rush it. It's fine." 

"Thanks, Ty." She says.  
When Brendon comes back him and Melanie decide that they should go. It's 2:00 am now. And they have school in the morning. But Tyler will probably still be here. And Josh will try his best to stay with him. They say their goodbyes and the siblings leave. 

"Josh, I'm sorry for kissing you. I don't know what I was thinking, but I went too far and I'm sorry." Tyler says to the older boy with a frown on his face. 

"Oh, no, Tyler. It was fine, really. I liked it." Josh says but then his eyes go wide. "Oh, no, sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I'm really really sorry. I-I'll go now."

"No!" Tyler screams. Maybe just a little too loud. "Stay, please." Josh nods and sits back down. 

"Tyler, when you were all messed up on the drugs they gave you, you said you liked me. Was that true?" Josh had to think for a second before he asked that because he was worried that what Tyler had said was a lie. 

"What would you say if it was?" Tyler says a little scared. 

"I would say that it's true for me too." Josh replies. He's just being honest. He likes Tyler. He has for a little while now. 

"Really?" Tyler smiles. 

"Yeah." They stare at each other for a little bit.

Tyler speaks up "Can I uh..." 

"Yeah."  
Tyler leans forward and Josh meets him halfway. Josh moves his had to the back of Tyler's neck. They don't notice the door open. They didn't notice until-

"Tyler Robert Joseph!" Tyler's mom screams. The boys pull away from each other quickly. Josh looks at the floor. 

"Tyler Joseph you will not like boys. You like girls. I cannot believe you, Tyler. I came home early because I was worried about you not to come home to... this! You are not my son. My son wouldn't do something like this to me!" She storms out of the room. Tyler's siblings are standing in the doorway of Tyler's room, looking very surprised. Tyler's dad comes to sit next to him. 

"I'm sorry about her, Tyler. That just surprised her. She'll be ok. But your ok, and that's all that matters, ok?" Mr. Joseph asks. Tyler just nods. 

"I'm going to go talk to her." Tyler's father says. He walks out of the room with his children that weren't in a hospital bed with wires strapped to them.

"Tyler. I'm sorry. I didn't know she was like that." Josh says. He looks over at Tyler, who is crying. 

"I didn't know either." Tyler says. He's staring at the door. 

"If things get bad you can stay with me. I'm sorry." 

"No, don't be. I like you, and I don't want you to be sorry." 

"Ok, Tyler." Josh debates telling the other boy that he loves him. Because he's been Tyler's best friend for so long, he really does love him. But Josh decides not to push it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sure Mrs. Joseph is lovely BUT WE NEED DRAMA so yeah 
> 
> also this is really short Sorry  
> Sorry  
> Sorry  
> Sorry 
> 
>  
> 
> A boy with bright blue hair and mocha eyes (and C major lips and blue-sky hands and tiger-growl teeth) stands up.
> 
>  
> 
> idk what I'm doing. 
> 
>  
> 
> k bye.
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	15. Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some fluff because of all the sadness that was happening

Tyler gets out of the hospital the next day. His mom doesn't talk to him. Tyler starts going back to school the day after he gets out of the hospital. Brendon starts sitting with the group at lunch because his friends 'kicked him out for supporting Crybaby'. But Tyler was ok with that. Because Brendon is nice and funny. The next couple of weeks go by without much complications, except for occasional visits from Blurry and Pete. It's a Friday afternoon and they just got home from school when the group is trying to make plans to hang out. 

Jishwa: what about tonite 

Mel: No, I can't tonight. 

tyjo: WHY NOT???????

Mel: I have a date. 

Jishwa: OMG MY GIRL MEL HAS A DATE 

tyjo: With whooooooooooooooooo

Mel: Some girl named Halsey that Brendon set me up with. 

Jishwa: a girl??? oooooooh mel 

Mel: Yes, a girl. Why? Are you against that? 

Jishwa: no

tyjo: No 

Then Tyler gets a text from Josh that's not on the group chat. 

Jishwa: hey since mel is going on a date maybe we can??

tyjo: You wanna go on a date? 

Jishwa: if u want to 

tyjo: I want to. 

Jishwa: can I come pick u up at around 5:00 

tyjo: Yeah, ok. 

Jishwa: c u then 

 

They go back to the group chat. 

Mel: Children??? You left me. 

Jishwa: sorry, discussing important stuff 

tyjo: Very important 

Mel: Well, what then? 

tyjo: Should we tell her, dear Joshua??? 

Jishwa: naw, dear tyler 

tyjo: Ok then you'll have to wait, my dear Melanie 

Mel: Why do you keep saying dear? 

tyjo: BECAUSE WE DO 

Jishwa: YEAH MELANIEEE 

Mel: Yeah, ok. I gotta go get ready. 

Tyler decides he should get really too. He wants to look nice for Josh, but not too fancy. So he thinks for a moment. Who dresses nice but not fancy? His sister. That's who. He goes to his sister's room. She's laying on her bed on her laptop. She seems surprised when she sees Tyler standing in her doorway. 

"Hey, Maddy, can you help me with something?" Tyler asks her. 

"Yeah, sure, Ty." She says before following Tyler to his room. He closes the door behind them and sits in his bed. 

"So, I have a date tonight. And I don't know what to wear. Can you help me?" Tyler asks his sister, who's never been invited into Tyler's room. She's looking at the band posters on the walls, and clothes on the floor. 

"Yeah." She says simply before Tyler shows her his closet. She starts picking out some clothes that would work. 

"Who are you going out with?" Madison asks. "The boy from the hospital?" 

"Yeah." Tyler says while watching her. She seems very interested in picking good clothes for him. 

"You guys are cute together." She says before putting a couple outfits on the bed. "You can choose which ever one of these you like the best. Have fun tonight, bro." Madison says before leaving Tyler's room and closing the door behind her.   
Tyler looks at the piles. One of them consists of a white button up shirt with black skinny jeans. Another one has a black shirt and a floral kimono he only really wore once, and black jeans. Tyler really only has black jeans. The last pile has a band shirt and some jeans. Tyler tries on all of them and goes with the second outfit, because it looks nice and it's comfortable. Tyler checks his phone. It's 4:47. Josh is probably on his way. Tyler decides to go back to Madison's room to tell her thank you. 

"Your welcome, Tyler. Your my brother. I'll help with whatever you need me too." She smiles and there's a doorbell sound coming from downstairs. Tyler runs as fast as he can to grab the door before anyone else can. His mom is walking up to it, but before she can get there, Tyler speeds past her. 

"Tyler!" She screams. But he's already at the door.   
Tyler opens the door to see Josh in a white button up and black jeans. He looks good. Tyler turns around just long enough to see his mother's disgusted face and Maddy watching them from the stairs. 

"Come on." Josh says while holding out his hand. Tyler takes it with a smile and follows Josh to his car. Josh opens the door for him. 

Once they are in the car Tyler asks "Where are we going?" 

"You'll see."   
During the drive they talk about little things, like how bananas are gross and how they hate math. 

"Were heeeeere." Josh says as he pulls up to a Italian restaurant. 

"Josh." Tyler says with a dumb smile. "I love this place." 

"I know, that's why I brought you." Josh says while getting out of the car and going to open Tyler's door. They walk in and get a table for two. They sit across from each other and talk about their lives. They talk about their siblings and Tyler is glad that Josh doesn't bring up his mom. 

"You look really nice by the way, Tyler." 

Tyler smiles "Thank you, my sister helped me pick my outfit." 

"That's really nice."   
The server comes up to the table and takes their orders. Josh gets lasagna and Tyler gets some spaghetti. They talk about things like that until the food comes out. 

"When are we going to tell Melanie?" Josh asks before eating some of his lasagna. It looks good and tastes good too, judging by the look on his face. 

"Tell her what?" Tyler asks. 

"That we're like dating now." 

"Oh. I don't know. When we feel ready." 

"Yeah, ok." 

When they are done with their food they get the check. Both boys reach out to grab it. 

"Tyler, I asked you. I'm paying." Josh says. Tyler knows that he won't get anywhere with arguing, so he agrees. They walk out to the car and get in. 

"You want ice cream?" Josh asks with a smile. 

"Yeah, but I'm paying." Tyler says. Josh rolls his eyes and grins even bigger.   
When they get to the ice cream parlor Josh gets a regular chocolate and Tyler gets a sundae. They get their ice creams (Tyler pays) and they walk outside to eat on the benches out there when they see Pete and his group walking towards the ice cream parlor. 

"Can we go? That's Pete." Tyler asks Josh nods and they get into the car. They decide to eat their ice creams in Tyler's room. They sneak in through the window, because it's getting a little late. Once they're in they sit in the floor of Tyler's room and tell jokes and stories. Once their ice cream is done Josh decides he should get home. 

"Goodnight, Tyler." Josh says. Tyler is leaning forward. Josh starts to too. Their foreheads are pressed together when Maddy opens the door. The boys pull away.

"Sorry. I was just checking to see if you were home, sorry." She closes the door. Tyler just laughs. 

"Goodnight, Josh." Tyler says before giving him a quick peck to the cheek and Josh starts heading out the window. He stops once he's out, looking at Tyler. 

"Hey, Tyler?" He asks. 

"Yeah?" 

"Are you my boyfriend?" 

"Yeah, if you want to." Tyler says with a smile. 

"I'd like that. Bye, Tyler!" 

"Bye Jish!" Tyler shouts as Josh starts going back to his car. And Tyler is happy. Because someone wants to be his boyfriend. Someone cares about him. Yeah, it made someone else that Tyler cares about mad, but, it's ok. Because Tyler has Josh. And he's ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't updated in like a month I'm sorry but I wrote like 5 new chapters so I'll upload them soon. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	16. Drunk Brendon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which Brendon gets drunk, Melanie learns some stuff, Pete is mean and Tyler is Tyler. k.

Mel: Hello, my children. My dear brother, Brendon Urie, is hosting a party tonight. It's at his house, which is also my house. So this is an invitation to my house tonight. Would you like to come over? 

tyjo: Yes 

Jishwa: when is it 

Mel: 10:00 to whenever I guess. 

tyjo: Yes

Jishwa: yeah ok 

Mel: Yay no I won't be a weird little loner. 

tyjo: Yes

Jishwa: what is wrong with u ty

tyjo: Yes 

Mel: Ok then. 

tyjo: Yes? 

Jishwa: ignore the child 

tyjo: NO I AM HERE DONT IGNORE ME PLS

Jishwa: ok 

Mel: Also Halsey will be there don't be weird. 

Jishwa: we will just need to make sure she is right for u with a very long convo in which you cant hear 

Mel: I swear Brendon already did that you guys can't too you'll scare her away. 

tyjo: WE AINT MAKING PROMISES

Mel: Guys I swear though if you scare her off I'm leaving you. 

Jishwa: where will u go

Mel: With Brendon. 

tyjo: HEY GUYS IM HUNGRY I WANT A POPTART 

Jishwa: then get yourself a pop tart 

tyjo: BUT IM LAZYYYY

Mel: Tyler Joseph get a pop tart or starve. 

tyjo: WOW OK THEN SASSY 

Mel: Sass. 

Jishwa: sass 

tyjo: SASS 

Mel: Ok see you tonight. 

Jishwa: yep

tyjo: YES 

Tyler gets a text that's not on group chat. 

Jishwa: can I pick u up to go to the party @ 10

tyjo: YES 

Jishwa: k c u then 

tyjo: YES 

It's a long and tortuous wait for the party for Tyler. He just want to go see his friends. But finally is 9:52 and Josh's car is in the driveway. Tyler climbs out his bedroom window after locking his door. His parents would never let him go out this late, let alone to a party. 

"Hello, Josh." Tyler says.

"Well, hello, Tyler." He says as he starts the car and starts driving. 

"Did you know you don't type with proper grammar?" Tyler asks him. 'k c u then' is not a full sentence. 

"Yes. I know that." He says after he rolls his eyes. 

"Oooook." Tyler says. He draws out the 'o'. He rolls his eyes too.  
The boys pull up to Melanie's house. There are a lot of cars out there already. So many that the boys have to park a couple houses down. They walk into the house to find the strong smell of alcohol all around. Melanie finds them right away and brings them to her room. Halsey isn't there, so she's probably not even in the house yet.  
The trio makes small talk and jokes before Brendon is calling for Melanie downstairs. 

"I'll be right back." She says as she walks out the door. She closes it because Brendon has a weird thing where if you don't close the door he'll yell something like 'haven't you people ever heard of closing the door?' and then slam it.  
Tyler leans his head on Josh's shoulder. 

"We should go on another date." Josh says. The other boy smiles. 

"I would like that." Tyler says. The boys looks at each other. They're close. Tyler likes when they're close. And sometimes when they're close they kiss. Now is a sometime. They're not sure how long they hold the kiss, but they stop when they hear Melanie. 

"Hey guys this is Ha-" She stops when she sees her friends breaking their kiss. "Well, how long has this been going on?" She asks them. 

"We went on our first real date yesterday." Josh says. Tyler's face is red. He's embarrassed. Because Melanie just randomly walked in and she didn't know until just know. That's an awkward way to find out your friends are dating. Just to walk in on them. Tyler hides his face in Josh's shirt. What if Melanie thinks that Tyler and Josh being together is weird? She shouldn't be affected by the fact that they're both boys, because her and Halsey are both girls. 

"Your so cute together!" Melanie says maybe just a little too loud. Well that went better than expected. Josh giggles. Tyler thinks it's the cutest thing ever. He smiles. 

"Well, anyways, this is Hal-" Melanie is interrupted once again, but this time by Brendon, screaming something from downstairs.  
The four run downstairs to see Brendon standing on the table, with a microphone plugged into a speaker. 

"Ready? Ok lets go.  
Champagne cocaine gasoline and most things in between. I roam the city in a shopping cart. A pack of camels and a smoke alarm. Ummm do do do do do. DONT THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME!  
I'm a scholar and a gentleman and I usually don't fall when I try to stand. I lost a bet to a guy in a chiffon skirt but I make the high heels work! I've told you time and time again IM NOT AS THINK AS YOU DRUNK I AM! And we all fell down when the sun came up! I think we've had enough!" Brendon fell off the table after he sang that. The party goers are just standing around laughing. They are probably all drunk, judging by the smell of alcohol and some maybe even some drugs? Tyler can't tell. 

"Oh my lord Brendon!" Melanie yells as she runs over to him. He's on the floor now. No doubt he's really drunk. Tyler can hear Melanie scream 'Josh help'. Melanie probably can't carry Brendon on her own. And Josh has more muscle than Tyler, so it makes sense. Tyler turns around to see Brendon in Josh's arms, muttering something about butter, and Josh is going up the stairs. Melanie and Halsey are right behind them. Tyler stays downstairs. He feels a tap on his shoulder. He whips seeking expecting Josh, but sees Pete. Why is he here? Why would Brendon invite him? 

"Didn't know you were the party kind of guy." He says with a sarcastic frown.

"Go away. Leave me alone." Tyler tells him before walking away. He's being more confident than usual. Normally he would have just stood there, he wouldn't have said anything, let alone walk away. Maybe being with Josh and actually having friends gave him confidence. But Pete still follows him. 

"Oh, your going to wish you hadn't said that you freak." Pete turns to face Tyler. The smaller boy sees a slight flash of bright yellow and is hopeful that Josh will save him. And, like always, Josh is there. He pushes Pete away and grabs Tyler's hand to lead him away. 

"Thank you, Joshie." Tyler says after they reach the kitchen. He's a little embarrassed that Josh always has to save him. Why can't he just save himself and save everyone else the trouble? 

'your so pathetic having to have your little boyfriend save you all the time. he's annoyed with you. you can see it on his face.' 

'Go away, Blurry.' Tyler tells his mind. 

'well you know I'll be back. and soon too.' And with that Blurry is gone. 

"No problem, baby." Josh says with a quick kiss on the lips and Tyler smiles his beautiful smile that makes Josh want to smile too. 

"Oh my god that's disgusting. Get out of here!" A voice Tyler recognizes as Patrick tells the boys. Tyler's smile falls. They're both here. Of course their both here. They go everywhere together. And they torture Tyler together. 

Josh wraps his arm around Tyler and says "Come on." Before leading his up to a room where Brendon was laying on a bed in the corner. 

"Where's Mel?" Tyler asks the boy that's not drunk.

"She said she was gonna pour all the alcohol she could find down the drain." Josh says and then looks at Brendon. "He's funny to listen to when he's drunk."  
Tyler and Brendon start having a really weird conversation about things like cups and trees and walls. Josh watches them with a smile. He wonders how he got so lucky and falls asleep in the corner.


	17. sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For @MelanieMartinez_Stuff
> 
>  
> 
> *TRIGGER WARNING for suicide attempt and throwing up.  
> Also they get sorta drunk but I don’t know if that’s a trigger warning but yeahhhhhhhh

The next few months are normal. No, better than normal. Because Blurry doesn't come back unless Tyler has a really bad day, but Josh is always there for him. The boys also go on more dates and have a lot of fun. Now it's Christmas break and the boys have found themselves at a party, not one where you get drunk, but that's what they thought. 

"Lets get some punch I'm thirsty." Tyler whines while trying to pull Josh to the kitchen. The older boy rolls his eyes and follows Tyler. They have a couple cups of the punch, because it's good, before Brendon finds them. 

"Don't drink the punch." Brendon says while taking their cups and dumping them into the sink. 

"Why?" Tyler asks while wiping his face off. 

"Somebody spiked it." 

"What do you mean?"

"Somebody put alcohol in it."  
Tyler and Josh look at each other very worriedly while Brendon goes back to the crowd in the living room. 

"Joshie are we gonna get drunk?" Tyler says.  
Josh shrugs and plays with Tyler's hair and he smiles. They go into the living room to see 'Corpse Bride' playing and Tyler is confused. Why aren't they playing a Christmas movie?  
The boys start showing signs of their drunken state by saying funky things and mumbling their speech. Josh excuses himself to go to the bathroom and Tyler nods and decides to tour the house.  
He's walking around aimlessly when he sees his ex, Jenna. They only dated for a little bit, right before Blurry came. Then Jenna realized that Tyler wasn't emotionally stable and left him. But Tyler was ok with that. He didn't like her much anyway.

"Hey, Tyler." She says with a small smile. Tyler can't tell if she's been drinking. 

"Hi Jennnna." Tyler says. 

"How have you been?" 

"I've been great. I have a boy-" Tyler was cut off when Jenna leans forward and puts her lips on Tyler's. The boy doesn't pull away, but doesn't kiss back. Jenna pulls back and Tyler gives her a weird look before noticing yellow behind her. He turns his attention to Josh, who's staring at him. Josh just walks away and Tyler runs after him, leaving Jenna there. 

"Josh she kissed me, I swear. I didn't do anything please believe me." Tyler says once he gets to Josh's side. 

"I'm going home and you have to go with me because I'm your ride."  
Josh says with no facial expression. Tyler nods sadly and follows Josh to his car. They don't say bye to Melanie or Brendon, they just leave. The car ride is completely silent, no talking or music. Josh stops at Tyler's house and says nothing as the younger boy gets out of the car and walks to his house.  
When Tyler gets inside he runs to his room and ignores his dad trying to talk to him. He locks himself in his room and waits a couple of minutes before trying to call Josh.  
It goes to voicemail. Tyler says 'Josh I'm really really sorry. She kissed me and I didn't pull away and I'm sorry but I can't live without you and I need you please forgive me. Please Josh I need you.' through tears and ends the voicemail. He tries to call a few more times without any answer. Then Tyler realizes it's his fault. It's because of him that Josh is ignoring him. It's his fault that Josh probably hates him now. It's all his fault and he just wants the pain to go away so bad. Tyler had finally had someone who cared about him so much and he just had to ruin it. So he makes a plan. To end the pain. Blurry didn't even have to say a word this time.  
Tyler stumbles to the bathroom and finds the bottle of sleeping pills his mom keeps. He doesn't even bother to lock the door. He pulls out his phone and enters the group chat. 

tyjo: I'm sorry I messed up but I just can't live without you Josh because I love you and I'm sorry. Mel your a great friend and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Tell Brendon that too. I love you guys. I'm sorry. 

Tyler watches his phone for a few more minutes just to make sure that they both read the message. 

Mel: Tyler, what do mean? Are you Ok? 

Jishwa: dont do anything dumb ty im coming to get u

Tyler shuts off his phone but he can hear it buzzing. He takes a deep breath and opens the bottle. It's halfway empty. He dumps the pills on the counter and uses the empty bottle as a cup to put water in. Tyler knows he has to hurry because if Josh is really coming, he lives only a few minutes away. He starts swallowing the pills. They go down quick and easy. Soon Tyler is done with them all so he sits in the floor and leans his head on the bathtub. 

'GOOD CHOICE, TYLER.' 

Blurry's horrible voice rings through Tyler's mind as his eyelids start to feel heavy. Time is passing too slowly. Or is it too quickly? He closes his eyes just as he hears the bathroom door opening and a shout of his name. 

 

————––JOSH'S POV————–––

Josh drives home in silence. He just lets his thoughts overwhelm him. Why would Tyler do that to him? He thought they were doing really well.  
Josh gets to his house and thunders up the stairs. He flops down on his bed when his phone starts ringing. He takes it out of his pocket to see Ty<3 flashing onscreen. He ignores it. The ringing goes off soon, but then starts again. The cycle repeats for a little bit, then stops. Josh's text tone goes off. It's the group chat. 

tyjo: I'm sorry I messed up but I just can't live without you Josh because I love you and I'm sorry. Mel your a great friend and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Tell Brendon that too. I love you guys. I'm sorry. 

Mel: Tyler, what do mean? Are you Ok? 

Jishwa: dont do anything dumb ty im coming to get u

Josh tries to call Tyler a couple times. It goes straight to voicemail. 

"Hello, you have reached the voicemail of...." A robotic voice is cut of by a recording of Tyler saying his own name. "Tyler Joseph- please leave your message after the beep.

Beep"

"Tyler? Are you Ok?" Josh says and then hangs up. He calls again. 

"Hello, you have reached the voicemail of..." the robotic voice says the same things and so does Josh. He calls back again.  
And again.  
And again.  
By the 4th time he's worried, like really worried. 

"Hello, you have reached the voicemail-

Hello, you have reached-

Hello, you have-

Hello, you- 

Hello-

Hello-

He-"  
Josh screams and throws his phone at the wall. He gets up out of bed after furiously wiping tears from his eyes.  
He grabs his phone and runs out the front door, ignoring the yells of protest from his parents. Josh puts the car in drive and basically speeds to Tyler's house.  
When he gets their he runs as fast as he can to the other boys room. There are no other cars in the driveway. Tyler's dad must have left already.  
Josh pulls at the doorknob of the bathroom. When it's opened he lets out a strangles cry. Tyler eyes are barely open, and there's an empty bottle of pills on the floor. Oh god no. Tyler's eyes are closing. 

"Tyler!" Josh screams as he rushes to the unconscious boy on the floor. 

"No, baby, no." Josh tries to shake him awake but it was no use. So he called 911.

"911, what is your emergency?" A voice on the other end of line says. 

"My b-boyfriend tried to kill h-himself." Josh's voice is shaky and uneven. 

"Ok, I'll send the ambulance over but what did he do?" 

"H-He took p-pills." Josh says because he saw the empty bottle on the floor. 

"You need to try to make him regurgitate the pills." 

"Ok-k." 

"What's the address?" Josh tells the operator the address and she says she'll send the ambulance and hangs up.  
Josh pulls Tyler up to the toilet and props him up against it. He opens the lid. 

"I'm sorry if this hurts, baby." Josh says before sticking a finger in Tyler's mouth to try to make him throw up. Tyler starts gagging and Josh pulls his finger out of the younger boy's mouth. Tyler empties the contents of his stomach into the toilet as the ambulance pulls up to the house. 

"You'll be ok, baby boy. I love you." Josh says and pulls Tyler in for a hug. "You'll be ok."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t remember if I said Tyler had never had a girlfriend before but if I said that you can ignore it (if that makes sense). I’m pretty sure regurgitate means throw up. I also don’t know how drunk people act I’m barely a teenager (I scare the living sh*t out of Gerard)
> 
>  
> 
> k
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	18. Hey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler is (not) ok.
> 
>  
> 
> But Josh loves him.

Josh sits nervously in the hospital waiting room waiting for the news about Tyler when his phone buzzes. 

Mel: Guys what's happening? Is Tyler Ok?

Jishwa: we are at the ER again

Mel: Oh my gosh what happened?

Jishwa: he tried to do something 

Mel: Did it work? 

Jishwa: idk i hope not

Mel: I'm on my way. 

Josh put his phone away and waited for what seemed like eternity, but was probably only a couple minutes. 

"Tyler Joseph." It was the same nurse as always. Why did it always have to be that nurse? Josh figures he should probably know her name by know.  
He rushes over to her. 

"He's ok. You did a good job of getting the pills out of his system. He's ok now. We contacted his parents. They're on their way. Tyler was transferred to the hospital, like last time. You can walk over there now." She smiles. 

"Y-yeah, ok." Josh says and the nurse walks away. He takes a deep breath and starts walking to the hospital next door. It's a really quick walk, maybe 30 seconds to a minute. Josh pulls out his phone to tell Melanie that he's in the hospital before walking into the building. He stares at his feet walking on the white tile before getting to the desk. Two workers are behind it gossiping. 

"Did you hear about the suicide attempt in room 4B? That kid has been in here twice already." The female worker laughs "He needs some help."  
Josh looks at them laughing about Tyler. His Tyler. He's suddenly overcome with anger that they would laugh at such an amazing being. 

"I know, right? He-" The male starts but is interrupted by Josh. 

"Don't talk about him like that he's my boyfriend and he's amazing and you can't talk about him like that." Anger turns to sadness as Josh lowers his head so the people can't see tears forming. The workers fall silent.  
Josh gives the female his drivers license for her to scan. She gives it and a sticker that says Josh's name back. The hospital has updated their security lately.  
She tells Josh the room number and says that Tyler isn't unconscious anymore, just sleeping, as the tears dry in his face. He starts down the hall. He can feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, probably Melanie saying that she's here, but Josh doesn't bother to check it. He's putting all his energy in making sure Tyler is ok. Because that is what matters most to him.  
Josh stops in the door. He's scared of seeing Tyler broken again, like the first time he has to be rushed here.  
Josh takes a deep breath and opens the door.  
Tyler is laying there, in a blue hospital gown, with matching bedsheets. He's hooked up to a machine that's beeping with his every heartbeat. There's a IV in his arm, with some liquid going through it. Tyler is on his side, with his arms wrapped around his stomach. They probably pumped his stomach when he first got here.  
Josh goes to sit on the chair next to his bed. He wants to hug the other boy, to know he's alive, but he's fragile.  
Josh runs his fingers through Tyler's hair. "Oh, Tyler. You'll be ok, I promise you. I'm never letting you go. Never. Because I love you." Josh's eyes are wet with tears and he doesn't even notice Tyler's dad standing with his arms folded and a sad smile in the doorway until he clears his throat. 

"Oh, M-Mr. Joseph I'll go. You two can b-be alone." Josh stands up and starts making his way to the exit. But Tyler's dad guides him back to the chair. 

"Josh, that was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever told Tyler. I can tell that you love him, and he loves you too. He just needs you a lot right now, I think. And I don't know what caused him to do this, but we just need to make sure he doesn't feel like this again." Mr. Joseph says to Josh, who's now crying a lot, because he knows what caused this. And it's his fault. 

"M-Mr. Joseph-" Josh starts. "We were at a p-party and J-Jenna was kissing h-him and I g-got mad and h-he... he just d-did this and I-it's my f-fault and I'm s-sorry." Josh had a hard time not stuttering because he was crying and feeling a lot of emotions now. 

Tyler's dad hugged him. "No, Josh this wasn't your fault. You can't tell yourself that, ok?" Josh nodded slowly and trained his eyes to the sleeping boy.  
Well, at least they thought he was sleeping. Tyler had actually been awake since Josh got in the room, but was scared to open his eyes. He wasn't sure why. Maybe he was scared somebody would be mad at him for doing this. Maybe he didn't want to face reality. But then Tyler's stomach churned and he couldn't help but to wince in pain and hold it tighter. 

"Tyler? Tyler are you awake?" Josh asked in a small voice. Tyler slowly opened his eyes to see Josh sitting on the chair next to him and his dad had pulled up another chair and sat next to Josh. 

"Hey."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is short 
> 
> I feel like there’s not enough Melanie and there’s not enough Brendon and there’s not enough Halsey and there’s not enough anyone OMG WJKSJDJWKJWBQL
> 
> I don’t know what it’s like getting your stomach pumped I guessed sorry if it’s not accurate 
> 
>  
> 
> Also Josh calls Tyler’s dad Mr. Joseph instead of Chris because I feel like he would be formal, it just feels weird that Josh would call him Chris it feels too friendly for boyfriends dads and I really don’t know anymore
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


	19. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So stuff happens.
> 
>  
> 
> Look alive, sunshine  
> One-oh-nine in the sky  
> But the pigs won't quit  
> You're here with me: Doctor Death-Defy  
> I'll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter  
> Pumpin' out the slaughter-matic sounds  
> To keep you live  
> A system failure for the masses  
> Anti-matter for the master-plan  
> Louder than God's revolver  
> And twice as shiny  
> This one's for all you rock and rollers  
> All you crash queens and motor babies  
> Listen up!
> 
> The future is bulletproof  
> The aftermath is secondary  
> It's time to do it now and do it loud  
> Killjoys  
> Make some noise
> 
> NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
> 
>  
> 
> i don’t even know anymore

"Hey."  
Tyler's voice was hoarse and dry. 

"Oh my god, Tyler, your ok." Josh smiled and started crying again. 

"Why do you care?" Tyler snaps back. 

"What do you mean?"

"I just hurt y-you. I just hurt you a-and everyone e-else and you n-need someone b-better than m-me and I can't do a-anything right and my m-mom hates me and- and..." His voice trails off. 

Josh shakes his head "No, Tyler that's not true. It's not, ok? You can't think like that, ok?"  
Tyler just turns on his side, facing away from the visitors. Josh looks at Tyler's dad to see a pained expression on his face. They stay like that for a little bit, then the door opens. 

"Oh my god." Melanie's words are choked and she puts her hand up to her mouth.  
Tyler turns over to see her, then goes back to his side. Melanie slumps in the corner. It seems like Brendon isn't with her. 

 

\-----------------------------------

 

"It's getting late Josh, you should go home." Tyler's dad says. They've been at the hospital for a couple hours now. It's 11:00 pm. Melanie is sleeping in her corner. 

Josh shakes his head. "I want to stay with him, Mr. Joseph."

"Alright, but I need to go, I have work in the morning. I promise I'll be back right after though." He walks to the door. "Watch him for me, ok?" 

"Of course."  
Tyler's dad leaves the teenagers alone.  
Melanie leaves, though. She's been there all night and she's having trouble keeping her eyes open.  
Josh falls asleep watching Tyler sleep, listening to his heartbeat on the monitor, glad it's there.  
He wakes up to knocking at the door. It's 8:51 am now. A nurse comes in with a clipboard. She smiles at Josh. 

"Hi, I just need to check his vitals. He should be leaving in a couple days, Mr..." She turns her head to see Josh's name tag. "Dun." 

"Ok." He is still tired.  
The nurse checks a few things and writes something on the clipboard before leaving.  
Tyler has his back towards Josh, but he can tell the other boy is awake because every now and then he'll grab at his stomach. 

"Tyler, how are you feeling?" Josh asks gently. 

"My stomach hurts and I want to go home." 

"You might get to go home tomorrow." Josh says without really knowing when Tyler will leave. He hopes soon, though. Tyler turns to face the other boy. 

"Why are you still here?" Tyler asks softly, his voice still sounding a little dry. 

"What do you mean, Ty? I'm here because I'm your boyfriend and I care about you." Josh says. 

"B-But I was k-kissing Jenna and you w-were so mad..." Tyler's voice trails off. 

"I'm so sorry I shouldn't have ever acted like that I'm so sorry. So so sorry." Josh pulls the other boy into a hug and before he knows it their both crying hard. 

"I'm so sorry I made you feel like that, Tyler. I never want to hurt you. I..." Josh voice falters. He really wants to say something right now, but he isn't sure if Tyler is ready for that. Oh, what the heck, he thinks. "I love you, Ty." 

Tyler looks at him very surprised. "You- you do?" 

"Yeah, I love you." 

Tyler lets out a small, weird looking smile. He hugs Josh tight. 

"I love you too." Tyler confesses while still in Josh's arms.  
The boys stay like that for a little bit, but brake apart when Tyler's dad comes rushing into the room. 

"Hey. They let me off work early. How are you feeling, Tyler?" Mr. Joseph walks up the the hospital bed, and Josh moves away. 

"I feel better." Tyler says. That isn't a lie, either. He feels special, loved. Because now he knows that Josh loves him. 

"That's amazing, Tyler." Mr. Joseph says. "I spoke to the doctor. He said your stomach is ok now but they have to keep you for suicide watch, unless I sign a form that says you can leave early, but I have to go out of the state for work in a couple days. Your mom works so I don't know who will be able to watch you over Christmas." 

Tyler look at Josh. "So how long do I have to stay here?"

"The doctor said about a week."

"But then I'll be here for Christmas. And mom isn't gonna visit me."

"Tyler, she'll come around. I'll talk to her." 

"Ok." Tyler says sadly. Josh hates seeing him sad. Maybe his parents wouldn't mind if he spent the next week until Tyler's dad gets back with him. 

Josh speaks up. "Umm, maybe I can watch him. I just won't be able to be with him all day Christmas, but most of it. Hopefully" 

"Would your parents be ok with that?" Mr. Joseph asks. 

"Yeah, I mean, Tyler's hurt. They'll understand." 

"That's very sweet, thank you." He turns to Tyler. "I'll go get the papers. Be back in a minute." Tyler's dad leaves his son and Josh alone.

"Thank you, Jishwa. I don't wanna be alone with my mom. She might try to hurt me." Tyler's says with sad eyes. It hurts Josh's heart. That he's sad, and that his mother would make him feel like this. 

"She won't hurt you, ok? I'll protect you, I promise." Josh hugs Tyler and they both smile. Even if Tyler's smile is small and broken, it's still a smile. 

Tyler's dad comes back. "Your ready to go, Ty." He turns to Josh. "I leave two days before Christmas. Can you come over then and hang out with him? Make sure everything is ok?" 

"Yes, of course." Josh says and they both leave Tyler to get the needles pulled out of him, and get dressed.  
Once Tyler is ready all three of them head down to the front area to say goodbye. 

"Bye Josh. I'll see you in a couple days, right?" Tyler smiles his cute smile and Josh laughs. 

"Of course." Josh kisses the younger boy. "I love you." 

Tyler smiles. "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s that and yeah 
> 
>  
> 
> And right here  
> Right now  
> All the way in Battery City  
> The little children  
> Raise their open filthy palms  
> Like tiny daggers up to heaven  
> And all the juvee halls  
> And the Ritalin rats  
> Ask angels made from neon  
> And f*cking garbage  
> Scream out, "What will save us?"  
> And the sky opened up
> 
> Everybody wants to change the world  
> Everybody wants to change the world  
> But no one, no one wants to die  
> Wanna try, wanna try, wanna try  
> Wanna try, wanna try, now  
> I'll be your detonator
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 2019 isn’t so far away
> 
>  
> 
> Yeah so thanks for reading that I don’t know what I was doing but I haven’t known my whole life and I made it this far.   
>  
> 
>  
> 
> |-/

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so it's not very good but I'm trying my best. :-)  
> Sorry for any mistakes.  
> This work is sorta inspired by Friend, Please by Twenty Øne Piløts but not really. 
> 
>  
> 
> |-/


End file.
